?login_element?

Subversion Repositories NedoOS

Rev

Blame | Last modification | View Log | Download

  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">
  6. <META HTTP-EQUIV="content-type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
  7. <STYLE TYPE="text/css">
  8. blockquote, .display {
  9.         border: solid #a0a0a0 2px ;
  10.         border-radius: 8px ;
  11.         padding: 1em ;
  12.         margin: 0px ;
  13. }
  14.  
  15. .display {
  16.         word-spacing: 0.25em ;
  17. }
  18.  
  19. dl.display dd {
  20.         padding-bottom: 0.2em ;
  21. }
  22.  
  23. tt, kbd, code {
  24.         font-size: 12pt ;
  25. }
  26. </STYLE>
  27. </HEAD>
  28.  
  29. <BODY>
  30.  
  31. <HR>
  32. <H1>
  33. <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/"><IMG SRC="logo.gif" ALT="Lua" BORDER=0></A>
  34. Welcome to Lua 5.2
  35. </H1>
  36.  
  37. <P>
  38. <A HREF="#about">about</A>
  39. &middot;
  40. <A HREF="#install">installation</A>
  41. &middot;
  42. <A HREF="#changes">changes</A>
  43. &middot;
  44. <A HREF="#license">license</A>
  45. &middot;
  46. <A HREF="contents.html">reference manual</A>
  47.  
  48. <H2><A NAME="about">About Lua</A></H2>
  49.  
  50. <P>
  51. Lua is a powerful, fast, lightweight, embeddable scripting language
  52. developed by a
  53. <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/authors.html">team</A>
  54. at
  55. <A HREF="http://www.puc-rio.br/">PUC-Rio</A>,
  56. the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
  57. Lua is
  58. <A HREF="#license">free software</A>
  59. used in many products and projects around the world.
  60.  
  61. <P>
  62. Lua's
  63. <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/">official web site</A>
  64. provides complete information
  65. about Lua,
  66. including
  67. an
  68. <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/about.html">executive summary</A>
  69. and
  70. updated
  71. <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/docs.html">documentation</A>,
  72. especially the
  73. <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/manual/5.2/">reference manual</A>,
  74. which may differ slightly from the
  75. <A HREF="contents.html">local copy</A>
  76. distributed in this package.
  77.  
  78. <H2><A NAME="install">Installing Lua</A></H2>
  79.  
  80. <P>
  81. Lua is distributed in
  82. <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/ftp/">source</A>
  83. form.
  84. You need to build it before using it.
  85. Building Lua should be straightforward
  86. because
  87. Lua is implemented in pure ANSI C and compiles unmodified in all known
  88. platforms that have an ANSI C compiler.
  89. Lua also compiles unmodified as C++.
  90. The instructions given below for building Lua are for Unix-like platforms.
  91. See also
  92. <A HREF="#other">instructions for other systems</A>
  93. and
  94. <A HREF="#customization">customization options</A>.
  95.  
  96. <P>
  97. If you don't have the time or the inclination to compile Lua yourself,
  98. get a binary from
  99. <A HREF="http://lua-users.org/wiki/LuaBinaries">LuaBinaries</A>.
  100. Try also
  101. <A HREF="http://luadist.org/">LuaDist</A>,
  102. a multi-platform distribution of Lua that includes batteries.
  103.  
  104. <H3>Building Lua</H3>
  105.  
  106. <P>
  107. In most Unix-like platforms, simply do "<KBD>make</KBD>" with a suitable target.
  108. Here are the details.
  109.  
  110. <OL>
  111. <LI>
  112. Open a terminal window and move to
  113. the top-level directory, which is named <TT>lua-5.2.x</TT>.
  114. The <TT>Makefile</TT> there controls both the build process and the installation process.
  115. <P>
  116. <LI>
  117.   Do "<KBD>make</KBD>" and see if your platform is listed.
  118.   The platforms currently supported are:
  119. <P>
  120. <P CLASS="display">
  121.    aix ansi bsd freebsd generic linux macosx mingw posix solaris
  122. </P>
  123. <P>
  124.   If your platform is listed, just do "<KBD>make xxx</KBD>", where xxx
  125.   is your platform name.
  126. <P>
  127.   If your platform is not listed, try the closest one or posix, generic,
  128.   ansi, in this order.
  129. <P>
  130. <LI>
  131. The compilation takes only a few moments
  132. and produces three files in the <TT>src</TT> directory:
  133. lua (the interpreter),
  134. luac (the compiler),
  135. and liblua.a (the library).
  136. <P>
  137. <LI>
  138.   To check that Lua has been built correctly, do "<KBD>make test</KBD>"
  139.   after building Lua. This will run the interpreter and print its version.
  140. </OL>
  141. <P>
  142. If you're running Linux and get compilation errors,
  143. make sure you have installed the <TT>readline</TT> development package
  144. (which is probably named <TT>libreadline-dev</TT> or <TT>readline-devel</TT>).
  145. If you get link errors after that,
  146. then try "<KBD>make linux MYLIBS=-ltermcap</KBD>".
  147.  
  148. <H3>Installing Lua</H3>
  149. <P>
  150.  Once you have built Lua, you may want to install it in an official
  151.  place in your system. In this case, do "<KBD>make install</KBD>". The official
  152.  place and the way to install files are defined in the <TT>Makefile</TT>. You'll
  153.   probably need the right permissions to install files.
  154.  
  155. <P>
  156.   To build and install Lua in one step, do "<KBD>make xxx install</KBD>",
  157.   where xxx is your platform name.
  158.  
  159. <P>
  160.   To install Lua locally, do "<KBD>make local</KBD>".
  161.   This will create a directory <TT>install</TT> with subdirectories
  162.   <TT>bin</TT>, <TT>include</TT>, <TT>lib</TT>, <TT>man</TT>, <TT>share</TT>,
  163.   and install Lua as listed below.
  164.  
  165.   To install Lua locally, but in some other directory, do
  166.   "<KBD>make install INSTALL_TOP=xxx</KBD>", where xxx is your chosen directory.
  167.   The installation starts in the <TT>src</TT> and <TT>doc</TT> directories,
  168.   so take care if <TT>INSTALL_TOP</TT> is not an absolute path.
  169.  
  170. <DL CLASS="display">
  171. <DT>
  172.     bin:
  173. <DD>
  174.     lua luac
  175. <DT>
  176.     include:
  177. <DD>
  178.     lua.h luaconf.h lualib.h lauxlib.h lua.hpp
  179. <DT>
  180.     lib:
  181. <DD>
  182.     liblua.a
  183. <DT>
  184.     man/man1:
  185. <DD>
  186.     lua.1 luac.1
  187. </DL>
  188.  
  189. <P>
  190.   These are the only directories you need for development.
  191.   If you only want to run Lua programs,
  192.   you only need the files in <TT>bin</TT> and <TT>man</TT>.
  193.   The files in <TT>include</TT> and <TT>lib</TT> are needed for
  194.   embedding Lua in C or C++ programs.
  195.  
  196. <H3><A NAME="customization">Customization</A></H3>
  197. <P>
  198.   Three kinds of things can be customized by editing a file:
  199. <UL>
  200.     <LI> Where and how to install Lua &mdash; edit <TT>Makefile</TT>.
  201.     <LI> How to build Lua &mdash; edit <TT>src/Makefile</TT>.
  202.     <LI> Lua features &mdash; edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT>.
  203. </UL>
  204.  
  205. <P>
  206.   You don't actually need to edit the Makefiles because you may set the
  207.  relevant variables in the command line when invoking make.
  208.  Nevertheless, it's probably best to edit and save the Makefiles to
  209.   record the changes you've made.
  210.  
  211. <P>
  212.  On the other hand, if you need to customize some Lua features, you'll need
  213.   to edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT> before building and installing Lua.
  214.   The edited file will be the one installed, and
  215.   it will be used by any Lua clients that you build, to ensure consistency.
  216.   Further customization is available to experts by editing the Lua sources.
  217.  
  218. <P>
  219.   We strongly recommend that you enable dynamic loading in <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT>.
  220.   This is done automatically for all platforms listed above that have
  221.   this feature and also for Windows.
  222.  
  223. <H3><A NAME="other">Building Lua on other systems</A></H3>
  224.  
  225. <P>
  226.   If you're not using the usual Unix tools, then the instructions for
  227.  building Lua depend on the compiler you use. You'll need to create
  228.   projects (or whatever your compiler uses) for building the library,
  229.   the interpreter, and the compiler, as follows:
  230.  
  231. <DL CLASS="display">
  232. <DT>
  233. library:
  234. <DD>
  235. lapi.c lcode.c lctype.c ldebug.c ldo.c ldump.c lfunc.c lgc.c llex.c
  236. lmem.c lobject.c lopcodes.c lparser.c lstate.c lstring.c ltable.c
  237. ltm.c lundump.c lvm.c lzio.c
  238. lauxlib.c lbaselib.c lbitlib.c lcorolib.c ldblib.c liolib.c
  239. lmathlib.c loslib.c lstrlib.c ltablib.c loadlib.c linit.c
  240. <DT>
  241. interpreter:
  242. <DD>
  243.   library, lua.c
  244. <DT>
  245. compiler:
  246. <DD>
  247.   library, luac.c
  248. </DL>
  249.  
  250. <P>
  251.   To use Lua as a library in your own programs you'll need to know how to
  252.  create and use libraries with your compiler. Moreover, to dynamically load
  253.  C libraries for Lua you'll need to know how to create dynamic libraries
  254.   and you'll need to make sure that the Lua API functions are accessible to
  255.  those dynamic libraries &mdash; but <EM>don't</EM> link the Lua library
  256.   into each dynamic library. For Unix, we recommend that the Lua library
  257.   be linked statically into the host program and its symbols exported for
  258.   dynamic linking; <TT>src/Makefile</TT> does this for the Lua interpreter.
  259.   For Windows, we recommend that the Lua library be a DLL.
  260.   In all cases, the compiler luac should be linked statically.
  261.  
  262. <P>
  263.   As mentioned above, you may edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT> to customize
  264.   some features before building Lua.
  265.  
  266. <H2><A NAME="changes">Changes since Lua 5.1</A></H2>
  267.  
  268. <P>
  269. Here are the main changes introduced in Lua 5.2.
  270. The
  271. <A HREF="contents.html">reference manual</A>
  272. lists the
  273. <A HREF="manual.html#8">incompatibilities</A> that had to be introduced.
  274.  
  275. <H3>Main changes</H3>
  276. <UL>
  277. <LI> yieldable pcall and metamethods
  278. <LI> new lexical scheme for globals
  279. <LI> ephemeron tables
  280. <LI> new library for bitwise operations
  281. <LI> light C functions
  282. <LI> emergency garbage collector
  283. <LI> <CODE>goto</CODE> statement
  284. <LI> finalizers for tables
  285. </UL>
  286.  
  287. Here are the other changes introduced in Lua 5.2:
  288. <H3>Language</H3>
  289. <UL>
  290. <LI> no more fenv for threads or functions
  291. <LI> tables honor the <CODE>__len</CODE> metamethod
  292. <LI> hex and <CODE>\z</CODE> escapes in strings
  293. <LI> support for hexadecimal floats
  294. <LI> order metamethods work for different types
  295. <LI> no more verification of opcode consistency
  296. <LI> hook event "tail return" replaced by "tail call"
  297. <LI> empty statement
  298. <LI> <CODE>break</CODE> statement may appear in the middle of a block
  299. </UL>
  300.  
  301. <H3>Libraries</H3>
  302. <UL>
  303. <LI> arguments for function called through <CODE>xpcall</CODE>
  304. <LI> optional 'mode' argument to load and loadfile (to control binary x text)
  305. <LI> optional 'env' argument to load and loadfile (environment for loaded chunk)
  306. <LI> <CODE>loadlib</CODE> may load libraries with global names (RTLD_GLOBAL)
  307. <LI> new function <CODE>package.searchpath</CODE>
  308. <LI> modules receive their paths when loaded
  309. <LI> optional base in <CODE>math.log</CODE>
  310. <LI> optional separator in <CODE>string.rep</CODE>
  311. <LI> <CODE>file:write</CODE> returns <CODE>file</CODE>
  312. <LI> closing a pipe returns exit status
  313. <LI> <CODE>os.exit</CODE> may close state
  314. <LI> new metamethods <CODE>__pairs</CODE> and <CODE>__ipairs</CODE>
  315. <LI> new option 'isrunning' for <CODE>collectgarbage</CODE> and <CODE>lua_gc</CODE>
  316. <LI> frontier patterns
  317. <LI> <CODE>\0</CODE> in patterns
  318. <LI> new option <CODE>*L</CODE> for <CODE>io.read</CODE>
  319. <LI> options for <CODE>io.lines</CODE>
  320. <LI> <CODE>debug.getlocal</CODE> can access function varargs
  321. </UL>
  322.  
  323. <H3>C API</H3>
  324. <UL>
  325. <LI> main thread predefined in the registry
  326. <LI> new functions
  327. <CODE>lua_absindex</CODE>,
  328. <CODE>lua_arith</CODE>,
  329. <CODE>lua_compare</CODE>,
  330. <CODE>lua_copy</CODE>,
  331. <CODE>lua_len</CODE>,
  332. <CODE>lua_rawgetp</CODE>,
  333. <CODE>lua_rawsetp</CODE>,
  334. <CODE>lua_upvalueid</CODE>,
  335. <CODE>lua_upvaluejoin</CODE>,
  336. <CODE>lua_version</CODE>.
  337. <LI> new functions
  338. <CODE>luaL_checkversion</CODE>,
  339. <CODE>luaL_setmetatable</CODE>,
  340. <CODE>luaL_testudata</CODE>,
  341. <CODE>luaL_tolstring</CODE>.
  342. <LI> <CODE>lua_pushstring</CODE> and <CODE>pushlstring</CODE> return string
  343. <LI> <CODE>nparams</CODE> and <CODE>isvararg</CODE> available in debug API
  344. <LI> new <CODE>lua_Unsigned</CODE>
  345. </UL>
  346.  
  347. <H3>Implementation</H3>
  348. <UL>
  349. <LI> max constants per function raised to 2<SUP>26</SUP>
  350. <LI> generational mode for garbage collection (experimental)
  351. <LI> NaN trick (experimental)
  352. <LI> internal (immutable) version of ctypes
  353. <LI> simpler implementation for string buffers
  354. <LI> parser uses much less C-stack space (no more auto arrays)
  355. </UL>
  356.  
  357. <H3>Lua standalone interpreter</H3>
  358. <UL>
  359. <LI> new <CODE>-E</CODE> option to avoid environment variables
  360. <LI> handling of non-string error messages
  361. </UL>
  362.  
  363. <H2><A NAME="license">License</A></H2>
  364. <A HREF="http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php">
  365. <IMG SRC="osi-certified-72x60.png" ALIGN="right" BORDER="0" ALT="[osi certified]" STYLE="padding-left: 30px ;">
  366. </A>
  367.  
  368. <P>
  369. Lua is free software distributed under the terms of the
  370. <A HREF="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html">MIT license</A>
  371. reproduced below;
  372. it may be used for any purpose, including commercial purposes,
  373. at absolutely no cost without having to ask us.
  374.  
  375. The only requirement is that if you do use Lua,
  376. then you should give us credit by including the appropriate copyright notice somewhere in your product or its documentation.
  377.  
  378. For details, see
  379. <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/license.html">this</A>.
  380.  
  381. <BLOCKQUOTE STYLE="padding-bottom: 0em">
  382. Copyright &copy; 1994&ndash;2015 Lua.org, PUC-Rio.
  383.  
  384. <P>
  385. Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
  386. of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
  387. in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
  388. to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
  389. copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
  390. furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
  391.  
  392. <P>
  393. The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
  394. all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
  395.  
  396. <P>
  397. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
  398. IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
  399. FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
  400. AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
  401. LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
  402. OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
  403. THE SOFTWARE.
  404. </BLOCKQUOTE>
  405. <P>
  406.  
  407. <HR>
  408. <SMALL CLASS="footer">
  409. Last update:
  410. Mon Feb 23 22:25:08 BRT 2015
  411. </SMALL>
  412. <!--
  413. Last change: revised for Lua 5.2.4
  414. -->
  415.  
  416. </BODY>
  417. </HTML>
  418.