1*088332b5SXin Li<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> 2*088332b5SXin Li<HTML> 3*088332b5SXin Li<HEAD> 4*088332b5SXin Li<TITLE>Lua 5.4 readme</TITLE> 5*088332b5SXin Li<LINK REL="stylesheet" TYPE="text/css" HREF="lua.css"> 6*088332b5SXin Li<META HTTP-EQUIV="content-type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> 7*088332b5SXin Li<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> 8*088332b5SXin Liblockquote, .display { 9*088332b5SXin Li border: solid #a0a0a0 2px ; 10*088332b5SXin Li border-radius: 8px ; 11*088332b5SXin Li padding: 1em ; 12*088332b5SXin Li margin: 0px ; 13*088332b5SXin Li} 14*088332b5SXin Li 15*088332b5SXin Li.display { 16*088332b5SXin Li word-spacing: 0.25em ; 17*088332b5SXin Li} 18*088332b5SXin Li 19*088332b5SXin Lidl.display dd { 20*088332b5SXin Li padding-bottom: 0.2em ; 21*088332b5SXin Li} 22*088332b5SXin Li 23*088332b5SXin Litt, kbd, code { 24*088332b5SXin Li font-size: 12pt ; 25*088332b5SXin Li} 26*088332b5SXin Li</STYLE> 27*088332b5SXin Li</HEAD> 28*088332b5SXin Li 29*088332b5SXin Li<BODY> 30*088332b5SXin Li 31*088332b5SXin Li<H1> 32*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://www.lua.org/"><IMG SRC="logo.gif" ALT="Lua"></A> 33*088332b5SXin LiWelcome to Lua 5.4 34*088332b5SXin Li</H1> 35*088332b5SXin Li 36*088332b5SXin Li<DIV CLASS="menubar"> 37*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="#about">about</A> 38*088332b5SXin Li· 39*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="#install">installation</A> 40*088332b5SXin Li· 41*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="#changes">changes</A> 42*088332b5SXin Li· 43*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="#license">license</A> 44*088332b5SXin Li· 45*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="contents.html">reference manual</A> 46*088332b5SXin Li</DIV> 47*088332b5SXin Li 48*088332b5SXin Li<H2><A NAME="about">About Lua</A></H2> 49*088332b5SXin Li<P> 50*088332b5SXin LiLua is a powerful, efficient, lightweight, embeddable scripting language 51*088332b5SXin Lideveloped by a 52*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://www.lua.org/authors.html">team</A> 53*088332b5SXin Liat 54*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://www.puc-rio.br/">PUC-Rio</A>, 55*088332b5SXin Lithe Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. 56*088332b5SXin LiLua is 57*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="#license">free software</A> 58*088332b5SXin Liused in 59*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://www.lua.org/uses.html">many products and projects</A> 60*088332b5SXin Liaround the world. 61*088332b5SXin Li 62*088332b5SXin Li<P> 63*088332b5SXin LiLua's 64*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://www.lua.org/">official web site</A> 65*088332b5SXin Liprovides complete information 66*088332b5SXin Liabout Lua, 67*088332b5SXin Liincluding 68*088332b5SXin Lian 69*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://www.lua.org/about.html">executive summary</A> 70*088332b5SXin Liand 71*088332b5SXin Liupdated 72*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://www.lua.org/docs.html">documentation</A>, 73*088332b5SXin Liespecially the 74*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://www.lua.org/manual/5.4/">reference manual</A>, 75*088332b5SXin Liwhich may differ slightly from the 76*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="contents.html">local copy</A> 77*088332b5SXin Lidistributed in this package. 78*088332b5SXin Li 79*088332b5SXin Li<H2><A NAME="install">Installing Lua</A></H2> 80*088332b5SXin Li<P> 81*088332b5SXin LiLua is distributed in 82*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://www.lua.org/ftp/">source</A> 83*088332b5SXin Liform. 84*088332b5SXin LiYou need to build it before using it. 85*088332b5SXin LiBuilding Lua should be straightforward 86*088332b5SXin Libecause 87*088332b5SXin LiLua is implemented in pure ANSI C and compiles unmodified in all known 88*088332b5SXin Liplatforms that have an ANSI C compiler. 89*088332b5SXin LiLua also compiles unmodified as C++. 90*088332b5SXin LiThe instructions given below for building Lua are for Unix-like platforms, 91*088332b5SXin Lisuch as Linux and Mac OS X. 92*088332b5SXin LiSee also 93*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="#other">instructions for other systems</A> 94*088332b5SXin Liand 95*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="#customization">customization options</A>. 96*088332b5SXin Li 97*088332b5SXin Li<P> 98*088332b5SXin LiIf you don't have the time or the inclination to compile Lua yourself, 99*088332b5SXin Liget a binary from 100*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://lua-users.org/wiki/LuaBinaries">LuaBinaries</A>. 101*088332b5SXin LiTry also 102*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://luadist.org/">LuaDist</A>, 103*088332b5SXin Lia multi-platform distribution of Lua that includes batteries. 104*088332b5SXin Li 105*088332b5SXin Li<H3>Building Lua</H3> 106*088332b5SXin Li<P> 107*088332b5SXin LiIn most common Unix-like platforms, simply do "<KBD>make</KBD>". 108*088332b5SXin LiHere are the details. 109*088332b5SXin Li 110*088332b5SXin Li<OL> 111*088332b5SXin Li<LI> 112*088332b5SXin LiOpen a terminal window and move to 113*088332b5SXin Lithe top-level directory, which is named <TT>lua-5.4.1</TT>. 114*088332b5SXin LiThe <TT>Makefile</TT> there controls both the build process and the installation process. 115*088332b5SXin Li<P> 116*088332b5SXin Li<LI> 117*088332b5SXin Li Do "<KBD>make</KBD>". The <TT>Makefile</TT> will guess your platform and build Lua for it. 118*088332b5SXin Li<P> 119*088332b5SXin Li<LI> 120*088332b5SXin Li If the guess failed, do "<KBD>make help</KBD>" and see if your platform is listed. 121*088332b5SXin Li The platforms currently supported are: 122*088332b5SXin Li<P> 123*088332b5SXin Li<P CLASS="display"> 124*088332b5SXin Li guess aix bsd c89 freebsd generic linux linux-readline macosx mingw posix solaris 125*088332b5SXin Li</P> 126*088332b5SXin Li<P> 127*088332b5SXin Li If your platform is listed, just do "<KBD>make xxx</KBD>", where xxx 128*088332b5SXin Li is your platform name. 129*088332b5SXin Li<P> 130*088332b5SXin Li If your platform is not listed, try the closest one or posix, generic, 131*088332b5SXin Li c89, in this order. 132*088332b5SXin Li<P> 133*088332b5SXin Li<LI> 134*088332b5SXin LiThe compilation takes only a few moments 135*088332b5SXin Liand produces three files in the <TT>src</TT> directory: 136*088332b5SXin Lilua (the interpreter), 137*088332b5SXin Liluac (the compiler), 138*088332b5SXin Liand liblua.a (the library). 139*088332b5SXin Li<P> 140*088332b5SXin Li<LI> 141*088332b5SXin Li To check that Lua has been built correctly, do "<KBD>make test</KBD>" 142*088332b5SXin Li after building Lua. This will run the interpreter and print its version. 143*088332b5SXin Li</OL> 144*088332b5SXin Li<P> 145*088332b5SXin LiIf you're running Linux, try "<KBD>make linux-readline</KBD>" to build the interactive Lua interpreter with handy line-editing and history capabilities. 146*088332b5SXin LiIf you get compilation errors, 147*088332b5SXin Limake sure you have installed the <TT>readline</TT> development package 148*088332b5SXin Li(which is probably named <TT>libreadline-dev</TT> or <TT>readline-devel</TT>). 149*088332b5SXin LiIf you get link errors after that, 150*088332b5SXin Lithen try "<KBD>make linux-readline MYLIBS=-ltermcap</KBD>". 151*088332b5SXin Li 152*088332b5SXin Li<H3>Installing Lua</H3> 153*088332b5SXin Li<P> 154*088332b5SXin Li Once you have built Lua, you may want to install it in an official 155*088332b5SXin Li place in your system. In this case, do "<KBD>make install</KBD>". The official 156*088332b5SXin Li place and the way to install files are defined in the <TT>Makefile</TT>. You'll 157*088332b5SXin Li probably need the right permissions to install files, and so may need to do "<KBD>sudo make install</KBD>". 158*088332b5SXin Li 159*088332b5SXin Li<P> 160*088332b5SXin Li To build and install Lua in one step, do "<KBD>make all install</KBD>", 161*088332b5SXin Li or "<KBD>make xxx install</KBD>", 162*088332b5SXin Li where xxx is your platform name. 163*088332b5SXin Li 164*088332b5SXin Li<P> 165*088332b5SXin Li To install Lua locally after building it, do "<KBD>make local</KBD>". 166*088332b5SXin Li This will create a directory <TT>install</TT> with subdirectories 167*088332b5SXin Li <TT>bin</TT>, <TT>include</TT>, <TT>lib</TT>, <TT>man</TT>, <TT>share</TT>, 168*088332b5SXin Li and install Lua as listed below. 169*088332b5SXin Li 170*088332b5SXin Li To install Lua locally, but in some other directory, do 171*088332b5SXin Li "<KBD>make install INSTALL_TOP=xxx</KBD>", where xxx is your chosen directory. 172*088332b5SXin Li The installation starts in the <TT>src</TT> and <TT>doc</TT> directories, 173*088332b5SXin Li so take care if <TT>INSTALL_TOP</TT> is not an absolute path. 174*088332b5SXin Li 175*088332b5SXin Li<DL CLASS="display"> 176*088332b5SXin Li<DT> 177*088332b5SXin Li bin: 178*088332b5SXin Li<DD> 179*088332b5SXin Li lua luac 180*088332b5SXin Li<DT> 181*088332b5SXin Li include: 182*088332b5SXin Li<DD> 183*088332b5SXin Li lua.h luaconf.h lualib.h lauxlib.h lua.hpp 184*088332b5SXin Li<DT> 185*088332b5SXin Li lib: 186*088332b5SXin Li<DD> 187*088332b5SXin Li liblua.a 188*088332b5SXin Li<DT> 189*088332b5SXin Li man/man1: 190*088332b5SXin Li<DD> 191*088332b5SXin Li lua.1 luac.1 192*088332b5SXin Li</DL> 193*088332b5SXin Li 194*088332b5SXin Li<P> 195*088332b5SXin Li These are the only directories you need for development. 196*088332b5SXin Li If you only want to run Lua programs, 197*088332b5SXin Li you only need the files in <TT>bin</TT> and <TT>man</TT>. 198*088332b5SXin Li The files in <TT>include</TT> and <TT>lib</TT> are needed for 199*088332b5SXin Li embedding Lua in C or C++ programs. 200*088332b5SXin Li 201*088332b5SXin Li<H3><A NAME="customization">Customization</A></H3> 202*088332b5SXin Li<P> 203*088332b5SXin Li Three kinds of things can be customized by editing a file: 204*088332b5SXin Li<UL> 205*088332b5SXin Li <LI> Where and how to install Lua — edit <TT>Makefile</TT>. 206*088332b5SXin Li <LI> How to build Lua — edit <TT>src/Makefile</TT>. 207*088332b5SXin Li <LI> Lua features — edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT>. 208*088332b5SXin Li</UL> 209*088332b5SXin Li 210*088332b5SXin Li<P> 211*088332b5SXin Li You don't actually need to edit the Makefiles because you may set the 212*088332b5SXin Li relevant variables in the command line when invoking make. 213*088332b5SXin Li Nevertheless, it's probably best to edit and save the Makefiles to 214*088332b5SXin Li record the changes you've made. 215*088332b5SXin Li 216*088332b5SXin Li<P> 217*088332b5SXin Li On the other hand, if you need to customize some Lua features, you'll need 218*088332b5SXin Li to edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT> before building and installing Lua. 219*088332b5SXin Li The edited file will be the one installed, and 220*088332b5SXin Li it will be used by any Lua clients that you build, to ensure consistency. 221*088332b5SXin Li Further customization is available to experts by editing the Lua sources. 222*088332b5SXin Li 223*088332b5SXin Li<H3><A NAME="other">Building Lua on other systems</A></H3> 224*088332b5SXin Li<P> 225*088332b5SXin Li If you're not using the usual Unix tools, then the instructions for 226*088332b5SXin Li building Lua depend on the compiler you use. You'll need to create 227*088332b5SXin Li projects (or whatever your compiler uses) for building the library, 228*088332b5SXin Li the interpreter, and the compiler, as follows: 229*088332b5SXin Li 230*088332b5SXin Li<DL CLASS="display"> 231*088332b5SXin Li<DT> 232*088332b5SXin Lilibrary: 233*088332b5SXin Li<DD> 234*088332b5SXin Lilapi.c lcode.c lctype.c ldebug.c ldo.c ldump.c lfunc.c lgc.c llex.c lmem.c lobject.c lopcodes.c lparser.c lstate.c lstring.c ltable.c ltm.c lundump.c lvm.c lzio.c 235*088332b5SXin Lilauxlib.c lbaselib.c lcorolib.c ldblib.c liolib.c lmathlib.c loadlib.c loslib.c lstrlib.c ltablib.c lutf8lib.c linit.c 236*088332b5SXin Li<DT> 237*088332b5SXin Liinterpreter: 238*088332b5SXin Li<DD> 239*088332b5SXin Li library, lua.c 240*088332b5SXin Li<DT> 241*088332b5SXin Licompiler: 242*088332b5SXin Li<DD> 243*088332b5SXin Li library, luac.c 244*088332b5SXin Li</DL> 245*088332b5SXin Li 246*088332b5SXin Li<P> 247*088332b5SXin Li To use Lua as a library in your own programs, you'll need to know how to 248*088332b5SXin Li create and use libraries with your compiler. Moreover, to dynamically load 249*088332b5SXin Li C libraries for Lua, you'll need to know how to create dynamic libraries 250*088332b5SXin Li and you'll need to make sure that the Lua API functions are accessible to 251*088332b5SXin Li those dynamic libraries — but <EM>don't</EM> link the Lua library 252*088332b5SXin Li into each dynamic library. For Unix, we recommend that the Lua library 253*088332b5SXin Li be linked statically into the host program and its symbols exported for 254*088332b5SXin Li dynamic linking; <TT>src/Makefile</TT> does this for the Lua interpreter. 255*088332b5SXin Li For Windows, we recommend that the Lua library be a DLL. 256*088332b5SXin Li In all cases, the compiler luac should be linked statically. 257*088332b5SXin Li 258*088332b5SXin Li<P> 259*088332b5SXin Li As mentioned above, you may edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT> to customize 260*088332b5SXin Li some features before building Lua. 261*088332b5SXin Li 262*088332b5SXin Li<H2><A NAME="changes">Changes since Lua 5.3</A></H2> 263*088332b5SXin Li<P> 264*088332b5SXin LiHere are the main changes introduced in Lua 5.4. 265*088332b5SXin LiThe 266*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="contents.html">reference manual</A> 267*088332b5SXin Lilists the 268*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="manual.html#8">incompatibilities</A> that had to be introduced. 269*088332b5SXin Li 270*088332b5SXin Li<H3>Main changes</H3> 271*088332b5SXin Li<UL> 272*088332b5SXin Li<LI> new generational mode for garbage collection 273*088332b5SXin Li<LI> to-be-closed variables 274*088332b5SXin Li<LI> const variables 275*088332b5SXin Li<LI> userdata can have multiple user values 276*088332b5SXin Li<LI> new implementation for math.random 277*088332b5SXin Li<LI> warning system 278*088332b5SXin Li<LI> debug information about function arguments and returns 279*088332b5SXin Li<LI> new semantics for the integer 'for' loop 280*088332b5SXin Li<LI> optional 'init' argument to 'string.gmatch' 281*088332b5SXin Li<LI> new functions 'lua_resetthread' and 'coroutine.close' 282*088332b5SXin Li<LI> string-to-number coercions moved to the string library 283*088332b5SXin Li<LI> allocation function allowed to fail when shrinking a memory block 284*088332b5SXin Li<LI> new format '%p' in 'string.format' 285*088332b5SXin Li<LI> utf8 library accepts codepoints up to 2^31 286*088332b5SXin Li</UL> 287*088332b5SXin Li 288*088332b5SXin Li<H2><A NAME="license">License</A></H2> 289*088332b5SXin Li<P> 290*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php"> 291*088332b5SXin Li<IMG SRC="osi-certified-72x60.png" ALIGN="right" ALT="[osi certified]" STYLE="padding-left: 30px ;"> 292*088332b5SXin Li</A> 293*088332b5SXin LiLua is free software distributed under the terms of the 294*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html">MIT license</A> 295*088332b5SXin Lireproduced below; 296*088332b5SXin Liit may be used for any purpose, including commercial purposes, 297*088332b5SXin Liat absolutely no cost without having to ask us. 298*088332b5SXin Li 299*088332b5SXin LiThe only requirement is that if you do use Lua, 300*088332b5SXin Lithen you should give us credit by including the appropriate copyright notice somewhere in your product or its documentation. 301*088332b5SXin Li 302*088332b5SXin LiFor details, see 303*088332b5SXin Li<A HREF="http://www.lua.org/license.html">this</A>. 304*088332b5SXin Li 305*088332b5SXin Li<BLOCKQUOTE STYLE="padding-bottom: 0em"> 306*088332b5SXin LiCopyright © 1994–2020 Lua.org, PUC-Rio. 307*088332b5SXin Li 308*088332b5SXin Li<P> 309*088332b5SXin LiPermission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy 310*088332b5SXin Liof this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal 311*088332b5SXin Liin the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights 312*088332b5SXin Lito use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell 313*088332b5SXin Licopies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is 314*088332b5SXin Lifurnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: 315*088332b5SXin Li 316*088332b5SXin Li<P> 317*088332b5SXin LiThe above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in 318*088332b5SXin Liall copies or substantial portions of the Software. 319*088332b5SXin Li 320*088332b5SXin Li<P> 321*088332b5SXin LiTHE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR 322*088332b5SXin LiIMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, 323*088332b5SXin LiFITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE 324*088332b5SXin LiAUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER 325*088332b5SXin LiLIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, 326*088332b5SXin LiOUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN 327*088332b5SXin LiTHE SOFTWARE. 328*088332b5SXin Li</BLOCKQUOTE> 329*088332b5SXin Li<P> 330*088332b5SXin Li 331*088332b5SXin Li<P CLASS="footer"> 332*088332b5SXin LiLast update: 333*088332b5SXin LiWed Sep 30 09:55:45 UTC 2020 334*088332b5SXin Li</P> 335*088332b5SXin Li<!-- 336*088332b5SXin LiLast change: revised for Lua 5.4.1 337*088332b5SXin Li--> 338*088332b5SXin Li 339*088332b5SXin Li</BODY> 340*088332b5SXin Li</HTML> 341
