[pkg-php-pear] Bug#860336: parse error in Request.php

[Juha Heinanen]

Package: php-http-request
Version: 1.4.4-5

When I try to open a web page implemented using PHP, I get error

[Fri Apr 14 20:04:15.147463 2017] [:error] [pid 977] [client ::1:48700] PHP Parse error:  syntax error, unexpected 'new' (T_NEW) in /usr/share/php/HTTP/Request.php on line 412

The offending line is here:

    function setURL($url)
    {
        $this->_url = &new Net_URL($url, $this->_useBrackets);

This page used to work on Jessie, but now fails on Stretch.

-- Juha