function _getDepDB()
    {
        if (!$this->hasWriteAccess()) {
            return array('_version' => $this->_version);
        }

        if (isset($this->_cache)) {
            return $this->_cache;
        }

        if (!$fp = fopen($this->_depdb, 'r')) {
            $err = PEAR::raiseError("Could not open dependencies file `".$this->_depdb."'");
            return $err;
        }

        $rt = get_magic_quotes_runtime();
        set_magic_quotes_runtime(0);
        clearstatcache();
        fclose($fp);
        $data = unserialize(file_get_contents($this->_depdb));
        set_magic_quotes_runtime($rt);
        $this->_cache = $data;
        return $data;
    }