diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 8681bfd83a32d..f4c5c42609944 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ PHP                                                                        NEWS
   an extension INI directive). (wharmby at uk dot ibm dot com, Dmitry)
 - Fixed bug #39320 (ZEND_HASH_APPLY_STOP causes deletion). (Marcus)
 - Fixed bug #39313 (spl_autoload triggers Fatal error). (Marcus)
+- Fixed bug #39300 (make install fails if wget is not available). (Tony)
 - Fixed bug #39297 (Memory corryption because of indirect modification
   of overloaded array). (Dmitry)
 - Fixed bug #39265 (Fixed path handling inside mod_files.sh). 
diff --git a/pear/Makefile.frag b/pear/Makefile.frag
index eb8e289cb6106..4a5456263d8b2 100644
--- a/pear/Makefile.frag
+++ b/pear/Makefile.frag
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ peardir=$(PEAR_INSTALLDIR)
 
 # Skip all php.ini files altogether
 PEAR_INSTALL_FLAGS = -n -dshort_open_tag=0 -dsafe_mode=0 -dopen_basedir= -derror_reporting=E_ALL -dmemory_limit=-1 -ddetect_unicode=0
+WGET = `which wget 2>/dev/null`
+FETCH = `which fetch 2>/dev/null`
 
 install-pear-installer: $(SAPI_CLI_PATH)
 	@$(top_builddir)/sapi/cli/php $(PEAR_INSTALL_FLAGS) $(builddir)/install-pear-nozlib.phar -d "$(peardir)" -b "$(bindir)"
@@ -14,7 +16,15 @@ install-pear:
 		if test -f $(srcdir)/install-pear-nozlib.phar; then \
 			cp $(srcdir)/install-pear-nozlib.phar $(builddir)/install-pear-nozlib.phar; \
 		else \
-			wget http://pear.php.net/install-pear-nozlib.phar -nd -P $(builddir)/;  \
+			if test ! -z "$(WGET)" && test -x "$(WGET)"; then \
+				"$(WGET)" http://pear.php.net/install-pear-nozlib.phar -nd -P $(builddir)/; \
+			elif test ! -z "$(FETCH)" && test -x "$(FETCH)"; then \
+				"$(FETCH)" -o $(builddir)/ http://pear.php.net/install-pear-nozlib.phar; \
+			else \
+				echo ""; \
+				echo "No download utilities found. Don't know how to download PEAR archive."; \
+				echo ""; \
+			fi \
 		fi \
 	fi
 	@if test -f $(builddir)/install-pear-nozlib.phar && $(mkinstalldirs) $(INSTALL_ROOT)$(peardir); then \