Lua eXtended
luax is a Lua interpreter and REPL based on Lua 5.4, augmented with some useful packages. luax can also produce executable scripts from Lua scripts.
luax runs on several platforms with no dependency:
Linux (x86_64, aarch64)
MacOS (x86_64, aarch64)
Windows (x86_64)
luax can compile scripts from and to any of these platforms. It can produce scripts that can run everywhere Lua or LuaX is installed as well as standalone executables containing the LuaX runtime and the Lua scripts. The target platform can be explicitly specified to cross-compile1 scripts for a supported platform.
Getting in touch
Requirements
Ninja: to compile LuaX using the LuaX Ninja file
C compiler ( cc , gcc , clang , …): to generate the Ninja file
Compilation
Quick compilation
The script bootstrap.sh installs ninja , zig and compiles LuaX. Once done, LuaX can be installed with ninja install . git must already be installed, which is likely to be the case if LuaX has been cloned with git …
$ git clone https://github.com/CDSoft/luax $ cd luax $ ./bootstrap.sh $ ninja install
If this fails, please try a manual compilation. Contributions on non supported platforms are welcome.
Manual compilation
luax is written in C and Lua. The build system uses Ninja and Zig (automatically downloaded by the Ninja file).
Just download luax (https://github.com/CDSoft/luax), generate build.ninja and run ninja :
$ git clone https://github.com/CDSoft/luax $ cd luax $ ninja -f bootstrap.ninja # compile Lua and generate build.ninja $ ninja # compile LuaX $ ninja test # run tests $ ninja doc # generate LuaX documentation
Note: ninja will download a Zig compiler.
If the bootstrap stage fails, you can try to:
use another C compiler: CC=gcc ninja -f bootstrap.ninja to compile Lua with gcc instead of cc
to compile Lua with instead of CC=clang ninja -f bootstrap.ninja to compile Lua with clang instead of cc
to compile Lua with instead of … or install Lua and generate build.ninja manually: apt install lua , dnf install lua , …
, , … lua tools/bang.lua to generate build.lua with the Lua interpreter provided by your OS
Compilation options
Option Description bang -- fast Optimized for speed bang -- small Optimized for size bang -- debug Debug symbols kept, not optimized bang -- san Compiled with ASan and UBSan (implies clang) bang -- zig Compile LuaX with Zig bang -- gcc Compile LuaX with gcc bang -- clang Compile LuaX with clang
bang must be run before ninja to change the compilation options.
lua tools/bang.lua can be used instead of bang if it is not installed.
The default compilation options are fast and zig .
Zig is downloaded by the ninja file. gcc and clang must be already installed.
Compilation in debug mode
LuaX can be compiled in debug mode (less optimization, debug symbols kept in the binaries). With the san option, the tests are executed with ASan and UBSan. They run slower but this helps finding tricky bugs.
$ git clone https://github.com/CDSoft/luax $ cd luax $ tools/bang.lua -- debug san # generate build.ninja in debug mode with sanitizers $ ninja # compile LuaX $ ninja test # run tests on the host
luax can compile scripts and link them to precompiled libraries for all supported targets.
E.g.: to produce an executable containing the LuaX runtime for the current host and hello.lua :
$ luax compile -t native -o hello hello.lua
E.g.: to produce an executable containing the LuaX runtime for linux-x86_64-musl and hello.lua :
$ luax compile -t linux-x86_64-musl -o hello hello.lua
E.g.: to produce an executable with the compiled Lua bytecode with no debug information:
$ luax compile -s -t linux-x86_64-musl -o hello hello.lua
luax compile can compile Lua scripts to Lua bytecode. If scripts are large they will start quickly but will run as fast as the original Lua scripts.
Precompiled LuaX binaries
In case precompiled binaries are needed (GNU/Linux, MacOS, Windows), some can be found at cdelord.fr/hey. These archives contain LuaX as well as some other softwares more or less related to LuaX.
Warning: There are Linux binaries linked with musl and glibc. The musl binaries are platform independent but can not load shared libraries. The glibc binaries can load shared libraries but may depend on some specific glibc versions on the host.
Installation
$ ninja install # install luax to ~/.local/bin and ~/.local/lib $ PREFIX=/usr ninja install # install luax to /usr/bin and /usr/lib
luax is a single autonomous executable. It does not need to be installed and can be copied anywhere you want.
LuaX artifacts
ninja install installs:
$PREFIX/bin/luax : LuaX binary
: LuaX binary $PREFIX/bin/luax.lua : a pure Lua REPL reimplementing some LuaX libraries, usable in any Lua 5.4 interpreter (e.g.: lua, pandoc lua, …)
: a pure Lua REPL reimplementing some LuaX libraries, usable in any Lua 5.4 interpreter (e.g.: lua, pandoc lua, …) $PREFIX/bin/luax-pandoc.lua : LuaX run in a Pandoc Lua interpreter
: LuaX run in a Pandoc Lua interpreter $PREFIX/lib/libluax.so : Linux LuaX shared libraries
: Linux LuaX shared libraries $PREFIX/lib/libluax.dylib : MacOS LuaX shared libraries
: MacOS LuaX shared libraries $PREFIX/lib/libluax.dll : Windows LuaX shared libraries
: Windows LuaX shared libraries $PREFIX/lib/luax.lua : a pure Lua reimplementation of some LuaX libraries, usable in any Lua 5.4 interpreter.
Usage
luax is very similar to lua and adds more options to compile scripts:
usage: luax [cmd] [options] Commands: "help" (or "-h") Show this help "version" (or "-v") Show LuaX version "run" (or none) Run scripts "compile" (or "c") Compile scripts "env" Set LuaX environment variables "run" options: -e stat execute string 'stat' -i enter interactive mode after executing 'script' -l name require library 'name' into global 'name' -l g=name require library 'name' into global 'g' -l _=name require library 'name' (no global variable) -v show version information -- stop handling options - stop handling options and execute stdin script [args] script to execute "compile" options: -t target name of the targetted platform -t list list available targets -o file name the executable file to create -b compile to Lua bytecode -s emit bytecode without debug information -k key script encryption key -q quiet compilation (error messages only) scripts scripts to compile Environment variables: LUA_INIT_5_4, LUA_INIT code executed before handling command line options and scripts (not in compilation mode). When LUA_INIT_5_4 is defined, LUA_INIT is ignored. PATH PATH shall contain the bin directory where LuaX is installed LUA_PATH LUA_PATH shall point to the lib directory where the Lua implementation of LuaX lbraries are installed LUA_CPATH LUA_CPATH shall point to the lib directory where LuaX shared libraries are installed PATH, LUA_PATH and LUA_CPATH can be set in .bashrc or .zshrc with « luax env ». E.g.: eval $(luax env) « luax env » can also generate shell variables from a script. E.g.: eval $(luax env script.lua)
When compiling scripts (options -t and -o ), the scripts shall contain tags (e.g. in comments) showing how the script is used by LuaX:
--@MAIN : main script (must be unique)
: main script (must be unique) --@LOAD : library that is require ’d before the main script is run and stored in a global variable
: library that is ’d before the main script is run and stored in a global variable --@LOAD=<global variable name> : as --@LOAD but the module is stored in a global variable with the given name
: as but the module is stored in a global variable with the given name --@LIB : library that must be explicitly require ’d by the main script
: library that must be explicitly ’d by the main script --@LIB=<new module name> : library that is require ’d with <new module name> instead of the source filename.
Scripts without tags are classified using a simplistic heuristic:
if the last non empty line starts with return then it is a library (as if it contained a @LIB tag)
then it is a library (as if it contained a tag) otherwise it is the main script (as if it contained the @MAIN tag).
This heuristic should work for most of the Lua scripts but explicit tags are recommended.
LuaX can also embed files that are not Lua scripts. These files are embedded as Lua modules that return the file content as a string. In this case, the module name if the file name.
Note for Windows users: since Windows does not support shebangs, a script script shall be explicitly launched with luax (e.g.: luax script ). If script is not found, it is searched in the installation directory of luax or in $PATH .
Examples
# Compilation (standalone executable script for LuaX) $ luax compile -o executable main.lua lib1.lua lib2.lua $ ./executable # equivalent to luax main.lua # Compilation for Lua $ luax compile -o executable -t lua main.lua lib1.lua lib2.lua $ ./executable # equivalent to lua main.lua # Compilation for Pandoc Lua $ luax compile -o executable -t pandoc main.lua lib1.lua lib2.lua $ ./executable # equivalent to pandoc lua main.lua # Available targets $ luax compile -t list luax lua pandoc native linux-x86_64 linux-x86_64-musl linux-aarch64 linux-aarch64-musl macos-x86_64 macos-aarch64 windows-x86_64
Built-in modules
The luax runtime comes with a few builtin modules.
Some modules are heavily inspired by BonaLuna and lapp.
LuaX interactive usage: improved Lua REPL
package: modified Lua package package
debug: modified Lua package debug
import: import Lua scripts to user table instead of _G
F: functional programming inspired functions
fs: file system management
sh: shell command execution
mathx: complete math library for Lua
imath: arbitrary precision integer and rational arithmetic library
qmath: rational number library
complex: math library for complex numbers based on C99
ps: Process management module
sys: System module
term: Terminal manipulation module
crypt: cryptography module
lz4: Extremely Fast Compression algorithm
lpeg: Parsing Expression Grammars For Lua
luasocket: Network support for the Lua language
argparse: Feature-rich command line parser for Lua
serpent: Lua serializer and pretty printer
cbor: pure Lua implementation of the CBOR
linenoise: A small, portable GNU readline replacement with UTF-8 support
json: JSON Module for Lua
Shared libraries
LuaX is also available as a shared library. This shared library is a Lua module that can be loaded with require . It provides the same modules than the LuaX executable and can be used by a regular Lua interpreter (e.g.: lua, pandoc, …).
E.g.:
$ lua -l libluax Lua 5.4.7 Copyright (C) 1994-2024 Lua.org, PUC-Rio > F = require "F" > F.range(100):sum() 5050 > F.show({x=1, y=2}) {x=1, y=2} > F.show({x=1, y=2}, {indent=4}) { x = 1, y = 2, }
Pure Lua modules
LuaX modules also provide pure Lua implementations (no LuaX dependency). The script lib/luax.lua can be reused in pure Lua programs:
luax.lua: LuaX modules reimplemented in pure Lua (except LuaSocket and lpeg)
License
luax is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. luax is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with luax. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. For further information about luax you can visit http://cdelord.fr/luax