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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"> |
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| 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 · |
| 39 <A HREF="#install">installation</A> |
| 40 · |
| 41 <A HREF="#changes">changes</A> |
| 42 · |
| 43 <A HREF="#license">license</A> |
| 44 · |
| 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-5.2.2</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 If you get link errors after that, |
| 144 then try "<KBD>make linux MYLIBS=-ltermcap</KBD>". |
| 145 |
| 146 <H3>Installing Lua</H3> |
| 147 <P> |
| 148 Once you have built Lua, you may want to install it in an official |
| 149 place in your system. In this case, do "<KBD>make install</KBD>". The official |
| 150 place and the way to install files are defined in the Makefile. You'll |
| 151 probably need the right permissions to install files. |
| 152 |
| 153 <P> |
| 154 To build and install Lua in one step, do "<KBD>make xxx install</KBD>", |
| 155 where xxx is your platform name. |
| 156 |
| 157 <P> |
| 158 To install Lua locally, do "<KBD>make local</KBD>". |
| 159 This will create a directory <TT>install</TT> with subdirectories |
| 160 <TT>bin</TT>, <TT>include</TT>, <TT>lib</TT>, <TT>man</TT>, |
| 161 and install Lua as listed below. |
| 162 |
| 163 To install Lua locally, but in some other directory, do |
| 164 "<KBD>make install INSTALL_TOP=xxx</KBD>", where xxx is your chosen directory. |
| 165 |
| 166 <DL CLASS="display"> |
| 167 <DT> |
| 168 bin: |
| 169 <DD> |
| 170 lua luac |
| 171 <DT> |
| 172 include: |
| 173 <DD> |
| 174 lua.h luaconf.h lualib.h lauxlib.h lua.hpp |
| 175 <DT> |
| 176 lib: |
| 177 <DD> |
| 178 liblua.a |
| 179 <DT> |
| 180 man/man1: |
| 181 <DD> |
| 182 lua.1 luac.1 |
| 183 </DL> |
| 184 |
| 185 <P> |
| 186 These are the only directories you need for development. |
| 187 If you only want to run Lua programs, |
| 188 you only need the files in bin and man. |
| 189 The files in include and lib are needed for |
| 190 embedding Lua in C or C++ programs. |
| 191 |
| 192 <H3><A NAME="customization">Customization</A></H3> |
| 193 <P> |
| 194 Three kinds of things can be customized by editing a file: |
| 195 <UL> |
| 196 <LI> Where and how to install Lua — edit <TT>Makefile</TT>. |
| 197 <LI> How to build Lua — edit <TT>src/Makefile</TT>. |
| 198 <LI> Lua features — edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT>. |
| 199 </UL> |
| 200 |
| 201 <P> |
| 202 You don't actually need to edit the Makefiles because you may set the |
| 203 relevant variables in the command line when invoking make. |
| 204 Nevertheless, it's probably best to edit and save the Makefiles to |
| 205 record the changes you need. |
| 206 |
| 207 <P> |
| 208 On the other hand, if you need to customize some Lua features, you'll need |
| 209 to edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT> before building and installing Lua. |
| 210 The edited file will be the one installed, and |
| 211 it will be used by any Lua clients that you build, to ensure consistency. |
| 212 Further customization is available to experts by editing the Lua sources. |
| 213 |
| 214 <P> |
| 215 We strongly recommend that you enable dynamic loading in <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT
>. |
| 216 This is done automatically for all platforms listed above that have |
| 217 this feature and also for Windows. |
| 218 |
| 219 <H3><A NAME="other">Building Lua on other systems</A></H3> |
| 220 |
| 221 <P> |
| 222 If you're not using the usual Unix tools, then the instructions for |
| 223 building Lua depend on the compiler you use. You'll need to create |
| 224 projects (or whatever your compiler uses) for building the library, |
| 225 the interpreter, and the compiler, as follows: |
| 226 |
| 227 <DL CLASS="display"> |
| 228 <DT> |
| 229 library: |
| 230 <DD> |
| 231 lapi.c lcode.c lctype.c ldebug.c ldo.c ldump.c lfunc.c lgc.c llex.c |
| 232 lmem.c lobject.c lopcodes.c lparser.c lstate.c lstring.c ltable.c |
| 233 ltm.c lundump.c lvm.c lzio.c |
| 234 lauxlib.c lbaselib.c lbitlib.c lcorolib.c ldblib.c liolib.c |
| 235 lmathlib.c loslib.c lstrlib.c ltablib.c loadlib.c linit.c |
| 236 <DT> |
| 237 interpreter: |
| 238 <DD> |
| 239 library, lua.c |
| 240 <DT> |
| 241 compiler: |
| 242 <DD> |
| 243 library, luac.c |
| 244 </DL> |
| 245 |
| 246 <P> |
| 247 To use Lua as a library in your own programs you'll need to know how to |
| 248 create and use libraries with your compiler. Moreover, to dynamically load |
| 249 C libraries for Lua you'll need to know how to create dynamic libraries |
| 250 and you'll need to make sure that the Lua API functions are accessible to |
| 251 those dynamic libraries — but <EM>don't</EM> link the Lua library |
| 252 into each dynamic library. For Unix, we recommend that the Lua library |
| 253 be linked statically into the host program and its symbols exported for |
| 254 dynamic linking; <TT>src/Makefile</TT> does this for the Lua interpreter. |
| 255 For Windows, we recommend that the Lua library be a DLL. |
| 256 |
| 257 <P> |
| 258 As mentioned above, you may edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT> to customize |
| 259 some features before building Lua. |
| 260 |
| 261 <H2><A NAME="changes">Changes since Lua 5.1</A></H2> |
| 262 |
| 263 <P> |
| 264 Here are the main changes introduced in Lua 5.2. |
| 265 The |
| 266 <A HREF="contents.html">reference manual</A> |
| 267 lists the |
| 268 <A HREF="manual.html#8">incompatibilities</A> that had to be introduced. |
| 269 |
| 270 <H3>Main changes</H3> |
| 271 <UL> |
| 272 <LI> yieldable pcall and metamethods |
| 273 <LI> new lexical scheme for globals |
| 274 <LI> ephemeron tables |
| 275 <LI> new library for bitwise operations |
| 276 <LI> light C functions |
| 277 <LI> emergency garbage collector |
| 278 <LI> <CODE>goto</CODE> statement |
| 279 <LI> finalizers for tables |
| 280 </UL> |
| 281 |
| 282 Here are the other changes introduced in Lua 5.2: |
| 283 <H3>Language</H3> |
| 284 <UL> |
| 285 <LI> no more fenv for threads or functions |
| 286 <LI> tables honor the <CODE>__len</CODE> metamethod |
| 287 <LI> hex and <CODE>\z</CODE> escapes in strings |
| 288 <LI> support for hexadecimal floats |
| 289 <LI> order metamethods work for different types |
| 290 <LI> no more verification of opcode consistency |
| 291 <LI> hook event "tail return" replaced by "tail call" |
| 292 <LI> empty statement |
| 293 <LI> <CODE>break</CODE> statement may appear in the middle of a block |
| 294 </UL> |
| 295 |
| 296 <H3>Libraries</H3> |
| 297 <UL> |
| 298 <LI> arguments for function called through <CODE>xpcall</CODE> |
| 299 <LI> optional 'mode' argument to load and loadfile (to control binary x text) |
| 300 <LI> optional 'env' argument to load and loadfile (environment for loaded chunk) |
| 301 <LI> <CODE>loadlib</CODE> may load libraries with global names (RTLD_GLOBAL) |
| 302 <LI> new function <CODE>package.searchpath</CODE> |
| 303 <LI> modules receive their paths when loaded |
| 304 <LI> optional base in <CODE>math.log</CODE> |
| 305 <LI> optional separator in <CODE>string.rep</CODE> |
| 306 <LI> <CODE>file:write</CODE> returns <CODE>file</CODE> |
| 307 <LI> closing a pipe returns exit status |
| 308 <LI> <CODE>os.exit</CODE> may close state |
| 309 <LI> new metamethods <CODE>__pairs</CODE> and <CODE>__ipairs</CODE> |
| 310 <LI> new option 'isrunning' for <CODE>collectgarbage</CODE> and <CODE>lua_gc</CO
DE> |
| 311 <LI> frontier patterns |
| 312 <LI> <CODE>\0</CODE> in patterns |
| 313 <LI> new option <CODE>*L</CODE> for <CODE>io.read</CODE> |
| 314 <LI> options for <CODE>io.lines</CODE> |
| 315 <LI> <CODE>debug.getlocal</CODE> can access function varargs |
| 316 </UL> |
| 317 |
| 318 <H3>C API</H3> |
| 319 <UL> |
| 320 <LI> main thread predefined in the registry |
| 321 <LI> new functions |
| 322 <CODE>lua_absindex</CODE>, |
| 323 <CODE>lua_arith</CODE>, |
| 324 <CODE>lua_compare</CODE>, |
| 325 <CODE>lua_copy</CODE>, |
| 326 <CODE>lua_len</CODE>, |
| 327 <CODE>lua_rawgetp</CODE>, |
| 328 <CODE>lua_rawsetp</CODE>, |
| 329 <CODE>lua_upvalueid</CODE>, |
| 330 <CODE>lua_upvaluejoin</CODE>, |
| 331 <CODE>lua_version</CODE>. |
| 332 <LI> new functions |
| 333 <CODE>luaL_checkversion</CODE>, |
| 334 <CODE>luaL_setmetatable</CODE>, |
| 335 <CODE>luaL_testudata</CODE>, |
| 336 <CODE>luaL_tolstring</CODE>. |
| 337 <LI> <CODE>lua_pushstring</CODE> and <CODE>pushlstring</CODE> return string |
| 338 <LI> <CODE>nparams</CODE> and <CODE>isvararg</CODE> available in debug API |
| 339 <LI> new <CODE>lua_Unsigned</CODE> |
| 340 </UL> |
| 341 |
| 342 <H3>Implementation</H3> |
| 343 <UL> |
| 344 <LI> max constants per function raised to 2<SUP>26</SUP> |
| 345 <LI> generational mode for garbage collection (experimental) |
| 346 <LI> NaN trick (experimental) |
| 347 <LI> internal (immutable) version of ctypes |
| 348 <LI> simpler implementation for string buffers |
| 349 <LI> parser uses much less C-stack space (no more auto arrays) |
| 350 </UL> |
| 351 |
| 352 <H3>Lua standalone interpreter</H3> |
| 353 <UL> |
| 354 <LI> new <CODE>-E</CODE> option to avoid environment variables |
| 355 <LI> handling of non-string error messages |
| 356 </UL> |
| 357 |
| 358 <H2><A NAME="license">License</A></H2> |
| 359 <A HREF="http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php"> |
| 360 <IMG SRC="osi-certified-72x60.png" ALIGN="right" BORDER="0" ALT="[osi certified]
" STYLE="padding-left: 30px ;"> |
| 361 </A> |
| 362 |
| 363 <P> |
| 364 Lua is free software distributed under the terms of the |
| 365 <A HREF="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html">MIT license</A> |
| 366 reproduced below; |
| 367 it may be used for any purpose, including commercial purposes, |
| 368 at absolutely no cost without having to ask us. |
| 369 |
| 370 The only requirement is that if you do use Lua, |
| 371 then you should give us credit by including the appropriate copyright notice som
ewhere in your product or its documentation. |
| 372 |
| 373 For details, see |
| 374 <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/license.html">this</A>. |
| 375 |
| 376 <BLOCKQUOTE STYLE="padding-bottom: 0em"> |
| 377 Copyright © 1994–2013 Lua.org, PUC-Rio. |
| 378 |
| 379 <P> |
| 380 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy |
| 381 of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal |
| 382 in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights |
| 383 to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell |
| 384 copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is |
| 385 furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: |
| 386 |
| 387 <P> |
| 388 The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in |
| 389 all copies or substantial portions of the Software. |
| 390 |
| 391 <P> |
| 392 THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR |
| 393 IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, |
| 394 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE |
| 395 AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER |
| 396 LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, |
| 397 OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN |
| 398 THE SOFTWARE. |
| 399 </BLOCKQUOTE> |
| 400 <P> |
| 401 |
| 402 <HR> |
| 403 <SMALL CLASS="footer"> |
| 404 Last update: |
| 405 Fri Feb 22 09:24:20 BRT 2013 |
| 406 </SMALL> |
| 407 <!-- |
| 408 Last change: revised for Lua 5.2.2 |
| 409 --> |
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