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<GreyKnight> (cd luabuild; tar -xvf lua-5.2.1.tar.gz)
author HackBot
date Fri, 14 Dec 2012 20:33:11 +0000
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1 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
2 <HTML>
3 <HEAD>
4 <TITLE>Lua 5.2 readme</TITLE>
5 <LINK REL="stylesheet" TYPE="text/css" HREF="lua.css">
6 <META HTTP-EQUIV="content-type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
7 <STYLE TYPE="text/css">
8 blockquote, .display {
9 border: solid #a0a0a0 2px ;
10 padding: 1em ;
11 margin: 0px ;
12 }
13
14 .display {
15 word-spacing: 0.25em ;
16 }
17
18 dl.display dd {
19 padding-bottom: 0.2em ;
20 }
21
22 tt, kbd, code {
23 font-size: 12pt ;
24 }
25 </STYLE>
26 </HEAD>
27
28 <BODY>
29
30 <HR>
31 <H1>
32 <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/"><IMG SRC="logo.gif" ALT="Lua" BORDER=0></A>
33 Welcome to Lua 5.2
34 </H1>
35
36 <P>
37 <A HREF="#about">about</A>
38 &middot;
39 <A HREF="#install">installation</A>
40 &middot;
41 <A HREF="#changes">changes</A>
42 &middot;
43 <A HREF="#license">license</A>
44 &middot;
45 <A HREF="contents.html">reference manual</A>
46
47 <H2><A NAME="about">About Lua</A></H2>
48
49 <P>
50 Lua is a powerful, fast, lightweight, embeddable scripting language
51 developed by a
52 <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/authors.html">team</A>
53 at
54 <A HREF="http://www.puc-rio.br/">PUC-Rio</A>,
55 the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
56 Lua is
57 <A HREF="#license">free software</A>
58 used in many products and projects around the world.
59
60 <P>
61 Lua's
62 <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/">official web site</A>
63 provides complete information
64 about Lua,
65 including
66 an
67 <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/about.html">executive summary</A>
68 and
69 updated
70 <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/docs.html">documentation</A>,
71 especially the
72 <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/manual/5.2/">reference manual</A>,
73 which may differ slightly from the
74 <A HREF="contents.html">local copy</A>
75 distributed in this package.
76
77 <H2><A NAME="install">Installing Lua</A></H2>
78
79 <P>
80 Lua is distributed in
81 <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/ftp/">source</A>
82 form.
83 You need to build it before using it.
84 Building Lua should be straightforward
85 because
86 Lua is implemented in pure ANSI C and compiles unmodified in all known
87 platforms that have an ANSI C compiler.
88 Lua also compiles unmodified as C++.
89 The instructions given below for building Lua are for Unix-like platforms.
90 See also
91 <A HREF="#other">instructions for other systems</A>
92 and
93 <A HREF="#customization">customization options</A>.
94
95 <P>
96 If you don't have the time or the inclination to compile Lua yourself,
97 get a binary from
98 <A HREF="http://lua-users.org/wiki/LuaBinaries">LuaBinaries</A>.
99 Try also
100 <A HREF="http://luaforwindows.luaforge.net/">Lua for Windows</A>,
101 an easy-to-use distribution of Lua that includes many useful libraries.
102
103 <H3>Building Lua</H3>
104
105 <P>
106 In most Unix-like platforms, simply do "<KBD>make</KBD>" with a suitable target.
107 Here are the details.
108
109 <OL>
110 <LI>
111 Open a terminal window and move to
112 the top-level directory, which is named <TT>lua-5.2.1</TT>.
113 The Makefile there controls both the build process and the installation process.
114 <P>
115 <LI>
116 Do "<KBD>make</KBD>" and see if your platform is listed.
117 The platforms currently supported are:
118 <P>
119 <P CLASS="display">
120 aix ansi bsd freebsd generic linux macosx mingw posix solaris
121 </P>
122 <P>
123 If your platform is listed, just do "<KBD>make xxx</KBD>", where xxx
124 is your platform name.
125 <P>
126 If your platform is not listed, try the closest one or posix, generic,
127 ansi, in this order.
128 <P>
129 <LI>
130 The compilation takes only a few moments
131 and produces three files in the <TT>src</TT> directory:
132 lua (the interpreter),
133 luac (the compiler),
134 and liblua.a (the library).
135 <P>
136 <LI>
137 To check that Lua has been built correctly, do "<KBD>make test</KBD>"
138 after building Lua. This will run the interpreter and print its version string.
139 </OL>
140 <P>
141 If you're running Linux and get compilation errors,
142 make sure you have installed the <TT>readline</TT> development package.
143
144 <H3>Installing Lua</H3>
145 <P>
146 Once you have built Lua, you may want to install it in an official
147 place in your system. In this case, do "<KBD>make install</KBD>". The official
148 place and the way to install files are defined in the Makefile. You'll
149 probably need the right permissions to install files.
150
151 <P>
152 To build and install Lua in one step, do "<KBD>make xxx install</KBD>",
153 where xxx is your platform name.
154
155 <P>
156 To install Lua locally, do "<KBD>make local</KBD>".
157 This will create a directory <TT>install</TT> with subdirectories
158 <TT>bin</TT>, <TT>include</TT>, <TT>lib</TT>, <TT>man</TT>,
159 and install Lua as listed below.
160
161 To install Lua locally, but in some other directory, do
162 "<KBD>make install INSTALL_TOP=xxx</KBD>", where xxx is your chosen directory.
163
164 <DL CLASS="display">
165 <DT>
166 bin:
167 <DD>
168 lua luac
169 <DT>
170 include:
171 <DD>
172 lua.h luaconf.h lualib.h lauxlib.h lua.hpp
173 <DT>
174 lib:
175 <DD>
176 liblua.a
177 <DT>
178 man/man1:
179 <DD>
180 lua.1 luac.1
181 </DL>
182
183 <P>
184 These are the only directories you need for development.
185 If you only want to run Lua programs,
186 you only need the files in bin and man.
187 The files in include and lib are needed for
188 embedding Lua in C or C++ programs.
189
190 <H3><A NAME="customization">Customization</A></H3>
191 <P>
192 Three kinds of things can be customized by editing a file:
193 <UL>
194 <LI> Where and how to install Lua &mdash; edit <TT>Makefile</TT>.
195 <LI> How to build Lua &mdash; edit <TT>src/Makefile</TT>.
196 <LI> Lua features &mdash; edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT>.
197 </UL>
198
199 <P>
200 You don't actually need to edit the Makefiles because you may set the
201 relevant variables in the command line when invoking make.
202 Nevertheless, it's probably best to edit and save the Makefiles to
203 record the changes you need.
204
205 <P>
206 On the other hand, if you need to customize some Lua features, you'll need
207 to edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT> before building and installing Lua.
208 The edited file will be the one installed, and
209 it will be used by any Lua clients that you build, to ensure consistency.
210 Further customization is available to experts by editing the Lua sources.
211
212 <P>
213 We strongly recommend that you enable dynamic loading in <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT>.
214 This is done automatically for all platforms listed above that have
215 this feature and also for Windows.
216
217 <H3><A NAME="other">Building Lua on other systems</A></H3>
218
219 <P>
220 If you're not using the usual Unix tools, then the instructions for
221 building Lua depend on the compiler you use. You'll need to create
222 projects (or whatever your compiler uses) for building the library,
223 the interpreter, and the compiler, as follows:
224
225 <DL CLASS="display">
226 <DT>
227 library:
228 <DD>
229 lapi.c lcode.c lctype.c ldebug.c ldo.c ldump.c lfunc.c lgc.c llex.c
230 lmem.c lobject.c lopcodes.c lparser.c lstate.c lstring.c ltable.c
231 ltm.c lundump.c lvm.c lzio.c
232 lauxlib.c lbaselib.c lbitlib.c lcorolib.c ldblib.c liolib.c
233 lmathlib.c loslib.c lstrlib.c ltablib.c loadlib.c linit.c
234 <DT>
235 interpreter:
236 <DD>
237 library, lua.c
238 <DT>
239 compiler:
240 <DD>
241 library, luac.c
242 </DL>
243
244 <P>
245 To use Lua as a library in your own programs you'll need to know how to
246 create and use libraries with your compiler. Moreover, to dynamically load
247 C libraries for Lua you'll need to know how to create dynamic libraries
248 and you'll need to make sure that the Lua API functions are accessible to
249 those dynamic libraries &mdash; but <EM>don't</EM> link the Lua library
250 into each dynamic library. For Unix, we recommend that the Lua library
251 be linked statically into the host program and its symbols exported for
252 dynamic linking; <TT>src/Makefile</TT> does this for the Lua interpreter.
253 For Windows, we recommend that the Lua library be a DLL.
254
255 <P>
256 As mentioned above, you may edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT> to customize
257 some features before building Lua.
258
259 <H2><A NAME="changes">Changes since Lua 5.1</A></H2>
260
261 <P>
262 Here are the main changes introduced in Lua 5.2.
263 The
264 <A HREF="contents.html">reference manual</A>
265 lists the
266 <A HREF="manual.html#8">incompatibilities</A> that had to be introduced.
267
268 <H3>Main changes</H3>
269 <UL>
270 <LI> yieldable pcall and metamethods
271 <LI> new lexical scheme for globals
272 <LI> ephemeron tables
273 <LI> new library for bitwise operations
274 <LI> light C functions
275 <LI> emergency garbage collector
276 <LI> <CODE>goto</CODE> statement
277 <LI> finalizers for tables
278 </UL>
279
280 Here are the other changes introduced in Lua 5.2:
281 <H3>Language</H3>
282 <UL>
283 <LI> no more fenv for threads or functions
284 <LI> tables honor the <CODE>__len</CODE> metamethod
285 <LI> hex and <CODE>\z</CODE> escapes in strings
286 <LI> support for hexadecimal floats
287 <LI> order metamethods work for different types
288 <LI> no more verification of opcode consistency
289 <LI> hook event "tail return" replaced by "tail call"
290 <LI> empty statement
291 <LI> <CODE>break</CODE> statement may appear in the middle of a block
292 </UL>
293
294 <H3>Libraries</H3>
295 <UL>
296 <LI> arguments for function called through <CODE>xpcall</CODE>
297 <LI> optional 'mode' argument to load and loadfile (to control binary x text)
298 <LI> optional 'env' argument to load and loadfile (environment for loaded chunk)
299 <LI> <CODE>loadlib</CODE> may load libraries with global names (RTLD_GLOBAL)
300 <LI> new function <CODE>package.searchpath</CODE>
301 <LI> modules receive their paths when loaded
302 <LI> optional base in <CODE>math.log</CODE>
303 <LI> optional separator in <CODE>string.rep</CODE>
304 <LI> <CODE>file:write</CODE> returns <CODE>file</CODE>
305 <LI> closing a pipe returns exit status
306 <LI> <CODE>os.exit</CODE> may close state
307 <LI> new metamethods <CODE>__pairs</CODE> and <CODE>__ipairs</CODE>
308 <LI> new option 'isrunning' for <CODE>collectgarbage</CODE> and <CODE>lua_gc</CODE>
309 <LI> frontier patterns
310 <LI> <CODE>\0</CODE> in patterns
311 <LI> new option <CODE>*L</CODE> for <CODE>io.read</CODE>
312 <LI> options for <CODE>io.lines</CODE>
313 <LI> <CODE>debug.getlocal</CODE> can access function varargs
314 </UL>
315
316 <H3>C API</H3>
317 <UL>
318 <LI> main thread predefined in the registry
319 <LI> new functions
320 <CODE>lua_absindex</CODE>,
321 <CODE>lua_arith</CODE>,
322 <CODE>lua_compare</CODE>,
323 <CODE>lua_copy</CODE>,
324 <CODE>lua_len</CODE>,
325 <CODE>lua_rawgetp</CODE>,
326 <CODE>lua_rawsetp</CODE>,
327 <CODE>lua_upvalueid</CODE>,
328 <CODE>lua_upvaluejoin</CODE>,
329 <CODE>lua_version</CODE>.
330 <LI> new functions
331 <CODE>luaL_checkversion</CODE>,
332 <CODE>luaL_setmetatable</CODE>,
333 <CODE>luaL_testudata</CODE>,
334 <CODE>luaL_tolstring</CODE>.
335 <LI> <CODE>lua_pushstring</CODE> and <CODE>pushlstring</CODE> return string
336 <LI> <CODE>nparams</CODE> and <CODE>isvararg</CODE> available in debug API
337 <LI> new <CODE>lua_Unsigned</CODE>
338 </UL>
339
340 <H3>Implementation</H3>
341 <UL>
342 <LI> max constants per function raised to 2<SUP>26</SUP>
343 <LI> generational mode for garbage collection (experimental)
344 <LI> NaN trick (experimental)
345 <LI> internal (immutable) version of ctypes
346 <LI> simpler implementation for string buffers
347 <LI> parser uses much less C-stack space (no more auto arrays)
348 </UL>
349
350 <H3>Lua standalone interpreter</H3>
351 <UL>
352 <LI> new <CODE>-E</CODE> option to avoid environment variables
353 <LI> handling of non-string error messages
354 </UL>
355
356 <H2><A NAME="license">License</A></H2>
357 <A HREF="http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php">
358 <IMG SRC="osi-certified-72x60.png" ALIGN="right" BORDER="0" ALT="[osi certified]" STYLE="padding-left: 30px ;">
359 </A>
360
361 <P>
362 Lua is free software distributed under the terms of the
363 <A HREF="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html">MIT license</A>
364 reproduced below;
365 it may be used for any purpose, including commercial purposes,
366 at absolutely no cost without having to ask us.
367
368 The only requirement is that if you do use Lua,
369 then you should give us credit by including the appropriate copyright notice somewhere in your product or its documentation.
370
371 For details, see
372 <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/license.html">this</A>.
373
374 <BLOCKQUOTE STYLE="padding-bottom: 0em">
375 Copyright &copy; 1994&ndash;2012 Lua.org, PUC-Rio.
376
377 <P>
378 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
379 of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
380 in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
381 to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
382 copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
383 furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
384
385 <P>
386 The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
387 all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
388
389 <P>
390 THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
391 IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
392 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
393 AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
394 LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
395 OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
396 THE SOFTWARE.
397 </BLOCKQUOTE>
398 <P>
399
400 <HR>
401 <SMALL CLASS="footer">
402 Last update:
403 Tue May 29 21:57:51 BRT 2012
404 </SMALL>
405 <!--
406 Last change: revised for Lua 5.2.1
407 -->
408
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410 </HTML>