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.
If you like LuaX and are willing to support its development, please consider donating via Github or Liberapay.
- Ninja: to compile LuaX using the LuaX Ninja file
- a decent modern and programmer friendly OS…
The bootstrap script will try to install ninja
on some known Linux
distributions (Debian, Fedora and Arch Linux) or on MacOS.
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
Contributions on non supported platforms are welcome.
Option | Description |
---|---|
bang -- fast |
Optimize for speed |
bang -- small |
Optimize for size |
bang -- debug |
Debug symbols kept, not optimized |
bang -- san |
Compile with ASan and UBSan (implies clang) and enable LUA_USE_APICHECK |
bang -- lax |
Disable strict compilation options |
bang -- strip |
Remove debug information from precompiled bytecode |
bang -- nolto |
Disable LTO optimizations |
bang -- ssl |
Add SSL support via LuaSec and OpenSSL |
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.luax
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 or bootstrap.sh
. gcc and clang
must be already installed.
These options can also be given to the bootstrap script. E.g.:
./bootstrap.sh small strip
.
LuaSec and OpenSSL can be statically linked to LuaX with the ssl
option. Otherwise you will have to install LuaSec or LuaSocket apart
from Luax (e.g. with LuaRocks).
In this case, the submodules shall also be downloaded:
$ git clone https://github.com/CDSoft/luax --recurse-submodules
$ cd luax
$ ./bootstrap.sh ssl
$ ninja install
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.
In case precompiled binaries are needed (GNU/Linux, MacOS, Windows), some can be found at cdelord.fr/pub. 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.
$ 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.
ninja install
installs:
$PREFIX/bin/luax
: LuaX binary$PREFIX/bin/luax.lua
: a pure Lua REPL reimplementing some LuaX libraries, usable in any Lua 5.4 interpreter (e.g.: lua, pandoc lua, …)$PREFIX/bin/luax-pandoc.lua
: LuaX run in a Pandoc Lua interpreter$PREFIX/lib/libluax.so
: Linux LuaX shared libraries$PREFIX/lib/libluax.dylib
: MacOS LuaX shared libraries$PREFIX/lib/libluax.dll
: Windows LuaX shared libraries$PREFIX/lib/luax.lua
: a pure Lua reimplementation of some LuaX libraries, usable in any Lua 5.4 interpreter.$PREFIX/lib/luax.lar
: a compressed archive containing the precompiled LuaX runtimes for all supported platforms
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)--@LOAD
: library that isrequire
’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--@LIB
: library that must be explicitlyrequire
’d by the main script--@LIB=<new module name>
: library that isrequire
’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) - 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 is 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
.
# 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
Target Interpeter / LuaX archive
--------------------- -------------------------
luax /path/to/luax
lua /path/to/lua
pandoc /path/to/pandoc
native /path/to/luax.lar
linux-x86_64 /path/to/luax.lar
linux-x86_64-musl /path/to/luax.lar
linux-aarch64 /path/to/luax.lar
linux-aarch64-musl /path/to/luax.lar
macos-x86_64 /path/to/luax.lar
macos-aarch64 /path/to/luax.lar
windows-x86_64 /path/to/luax.lar
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
- lzip: A compression library for the lzip format
- lpeg: Parsing Expression Grammars For Lua
- luasocket: Network support for the Lua language
- luasec: add secure connections to luasocket
- argparse: Feature-rich command line parser for Lua
- serpent: Lua serializer and pretty printer
- cbor: pure Lua implementation of the CBOR
- lar: Simple archive format for Lua values
- linenoise: A small, portable GNU readline replacement with UTF-8 support
- json: JSON Module for Lua
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,
}
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)
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
luax
uses other third party softwares:
- Zig: General-purpose programming language and toolchain for maintaining robust, optimal, and reusable software. (MIT license)
- Lua 5.4: Copyright (C) 1994-2023 Lua.org, PUC-Rio (MIT license)
- Lpeg: Parsing Expression Grammars For Lua (MIT license)
- luasocket: Network support for the Lua language (LuaSocket 3.0 license)
- luasec: integrates with LuaSocket to make it easy to add secure connections to any Lua applications or scripts. (LuaSec license)
- OpenSSL: robust, commercial-grade, full-featured toolkit for general-purpose cryptography and secure communication (Apache License 2.0)
- serpent: Lua serializer and pretty printer. (MIT license)
- LZ4: Extremely Fast Compression algorithm (License)
- lzip: A compression library for the lzip format (License)
- Argparse: a feature-rich command line parser for Lua (MIT license)
- Linenoise: A minimal, zero-config, BSD licensed, readline replacement (BSD license)
- dkjson.lua: JSON Module for Lua (MIT license)
- CBOR: pure Lua implementation of the CBOR (License)
Footnotes
-
luax
useszig
to link the LuaX runtime with the Lua scripts. The Lua scripts are actually compiled to Lua bytecode.luax
produces executables that do not require LuaX to be installed. ↩