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ULua: Universal Lua Distribution

A Lua distribution for Windows, OSX and Linux based on LuaJIT:

OS Architecture Version
Windows x86/x64 from Windows 7 onward
OSX x86/x64 from 10.5 (Leopard) onward
Linux x86/x64 all common distributions from 2009 onward

Features

  • binary distribution: no need for a C/C++ compiler, adding new packages is quick and painless
  • portable: it's self-contained in a single folder which can be safely relocated, even to a different OS
  • no installer is needed and all required dynamic libraries are included
  • includes a package manager to install new packages and to keep ULua up to date (LuaJIT binaries and package manager itself included)

Install

Download and unzip ulua~latest.zip into an arbitrary folder. This will create a single sub-folder named ulua which contains the ULua distribution.

ulua
├── lua.cmd        # LuaJIT executable for Windows.
├── lua            # LuaJIT executable for OSX and Linux.
├── host
│   ├── config.lua # Global configuration (see PKG).
│   ├── init       # Initialization scripts folder.
│   ├── tmp        # Temporary files folder.
│   └── pkg        # Downloaded packages cache folder.
├── bin
│   ├── upkg.cmd   # Package manager executable for Windows.
│   ├── upkg       # Package manager executable for OSX and Linux.
│   └── ...        # Other executables depending on installed packages.
├── pkg            # Package manager package.
└── ...            # Other installed packages.

Run

The lua executable starts LuaJIT, the Lua manual and the LuaJIT manual document its usage:

# On Windows:
> cd folder_containing_ulua/ulua
> lua      [options] [script [args]]

# On OSX and Linux:
> cd folder_containing_ulua/ulua
> ./lua    [options] [script [args]]

By default LuaJIT runs in 32-bit mode, to run it in 64-bit mode set the environment variable BIT=64:

# On Windows:
> set BIT=64

# On OSX and Linux:
> export BIT=64

On Linux, if LuaJIT 32-bit is executed on a distribution lacking the 32-bit C runtime, this will result in a meaningless error such as luajit: command not found. Either launch LuaJIT in 64-bit mode or install the required Linux libraries.

Packages

The upkg executable provides a convenient way of managing ULua:

# On Windows:
> cd folder_containing_ulua/ulua/bin
> upkg available    # List all available packages.
> upkg add socket   # Download and install the socket package (LuaSocket library).
> upkg add pl       # Download and install the pl package (PenLight library).
> upkg update       # Update all packages to the latest version.

# On OSX and Linux:
> cd folder_containing_ulua/ulua/bin
> ./upkg available  # List all available packages.
> ./upkg add socket # Download and install the socket package (LuaSocket library).
> ./upkg add pl     # Download and install the pl package (PenLight library).
> ./upkg update     # Update all packages to the latest version.

Luarocks

ULua features LuaRocks integration: new and updated rocks are automatically tracked, compiled and made available in ULua. More than 300 of such packages are currently available for installation.

Documentation

Refer to the official documentation.