The recent release of Matrix 5.5.1.5 seems to indicate it has features to download the vendor pacakges but not sure if this is Pear related.
> This is a small patch release that includes all vendor packages as part of the core release so that installation and upgrading becomes easier. It also includes an additional small Admin UI improvement.
Wait and see.
Btw, there is discussion I posted 3 week ago with the issue and some suggestions: