Actually we have something along those lines: using our command line utility you can install "packages" which should be a collection of classes for added functionality. Currently we have some well known libraries already available through the CLI by using "php oil install package htmlpurifier" for example, they're taken from Github and installed in the fuel/packages/<packagename> dir. Of course if you don't want CLI you can just download them and copy them to the right directory yourself.

We intend to create a repository for packages and classes installable through Oil directly into your Fuel install. At this time we are still using a single Github profile to fork any repo into that will be available through Oil package install: https://github.com/fuel-packages (install the packages without the "fuel-" prefix as their name)

Why not do it through a PEAR channel instead of basically creating your own version of it?

PEAR and PECL are great, but they add requirements to your application that live outside of the system.

You have to worry about your application being compatible with the version installed on the server and all sorts of other madness. Through this incredibly simple system (which will shortly become more powerful with its own interface) we can basically just install a package into your application in the same way most people would normally download, unzip, etc.

php oil install foo

Then add it to git, push and you're all good. Otherwise you have to run around installing dependencies and all sorts of other junk.

Definitely convenient!

Some of us in the PHP community definitely agree with you, and are working on trying to change the culture amongst developers. I'm currently writing a series of blog posts to try and convince developers why this is a good idea, and how to go about doing it.

http://blog.stuartherbert.com/php/beyond-frameworks/

I hope you find it useful.