diff --git a/extlib/PEAR.php b/extlib/PEAR.php
index fcefa964a3..4c24c6006a 100644
--- a/extlib/PEAR.php
+++ b/extlib/PEAR.php
@@ -746,7 +746,7 @@ class PEAR
     {
         if (!extension_loaded($ext)) {
             // if either returns true dl() will produce a FATAL error, stop that
-            if ((ini_get('enable_dl') != 1) || (ini_get('safe_mode') == 1) || !function_exists('dl')) {
+            if ((ini_get('enable_dl') != 1) || (ini_get('safe_mode') == 1)) {
                 return false;
             }
             if (OS_WINDOWS) {
diff --git a/lib/common.php b/lib/common.php
index 4524d50fa8..063d7d9d99 100644
--- a/lib/common.php
+++ b/lib/common.php
@@ -45,6 +45,14 @@ define('FOREIGN_FRIEND_RECV', 2);
 
 set_include_path(get_include_path() . PATH_SEPARATOR . INSTALLDIR . '/extlib/');
 
+# To protect against upstream libraries which haven't updated
+# for PHP 5.3 where dl() function may not be present...
+if (!function_exists('dl')) {
+    function dl($library) {
+        return false;
+    }
+}
+
 # global configuration object
 
 require_once('PEAR.php');