diff --git a/makedist b/makedist
index 5b28dd88d42..48c6312e78b 100755
--- a/makedist
+++ b/makedist
@@ -119,6 +119,11 @@ sed -i 's,^#ifndef YYTOKENTYPE,#include "zend.h"\n#ifndef YYTOKENTYPE,g' $MY_OLD
 $ECHO_N "makedist: Attempting to download PEAR's phar archive"
 if test ! -x wget; then
 	wget https://pear.php.net/install-pear-nozlib.phar -nd -P pear/
+	if [ "x$?" != "x0" ]
+	then
+		$ECHO_N "Pear download failed";
+		exit 7
+	fi
 else
 	$ECHO_N "Missing wget binary needed for pear download";
 	exit 7