Change pecl's temp directory? (installation issue)

I am trying to install imagick on a VPS running Centos 5.8. Typically, it's a quick fix, but the hosting provider will not allow (permission is already denied) me to use the typical fix, which is to remount /var/tmp as executable, and then remount as non-exec.

I have already run the following commands without error (as expected, gcc is needed):

yum install php-pear gcc 
yum install ImageMagick ImageMagick-devel

After that, when I run pecl install imagick it kicks back that /var/tmp permissions were denied.

Is there a way for me to change the default location from /var/tmp to resolve this? Or is there another workaround or something I am missing? Thanks!

Solution 1:

Set a different temporary directory on a filesystem on which you can execute binaries. For instance:

mkdir /root/tmp
pecl config-set temp_dir /root/tmp

or:

pear config-set temp_dir /root/tmp