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readme.html

      1 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
      2 <HTML>
      3 <HEAD>
      4 <TITLE>Lua 5.2 readme</TITLE>
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     22 
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     24 	font-size: 12pt ;
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     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://luaforwindows.luaforge.net/">Lua for Windows</A>,
    102 an easy-to-use distribution of Lua that includes many useful libraries.
    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-5.2.3</TT>.
    114 The Makefile 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 string.
    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 If you get link errors after that,
    145 then try "<KBD>make linux MYLIBS=-ltermcap</KBD>".
    146 
    147 <H3>Installing Lua</H3>
    148 <P>
    149   Once you have built Lua, you may want to install it in an official
    150   place in your system. In this case, do "<KBD>make install</KBD>". The official
    151   place and the way to install files are defined in the Makefile. You'll
    152   probably need the right permissions to install files.
    153 
    154 <P>
    155   To build and install Lua in one step, do "<KBD>make xxx install</KBD>",
    156   where xxx is your platform name.
    157 
    158 <P>
    159   To install Lua locally, do "<KBD>make local</KBD>".
    160   This will create a directory <TT>install</TT> with subdirectories
    161   <TT>bin</TT>, <TT>include</TT>, <TT>lib</TT>, <TT>man</TT>,
    162   and install Lua as listed below.
    163 
    164   To install Lua locally, but in some other directory, do
    165   "<KBD>make install INSTALL_TOP=xxx</KBD>", where xxx is your chosen directory.
    166 
    167 <DL CLASS="display">
    168 <DT>
    169     bin:
    170 <DD>
    171     lua luac
    172 <DT>
    173     include:
    174 <DD>
    175     lua.h luaconf.h lualib.h lauxlib.h lua.hpp
    176 <DT>
    177     lib:
    178 <DD>
    179     liblua.a
    180 <DT>
    181     man/man1:
    182 <DD>
    183     lua.1 luac.1
    184 </DL>
    185 
    186 <P>
    187   These are the only directories you need for development.
    188   If you only want to run Lua programs,
    189   you only need the files in bin and man.
    190   The files in include and lib are needed for
    191   embedding Lua in C or C++ programs.
    192 
    193 <H3><A NAME="customization">Customization</A></H3>
    194 <P>
    195   Three kinds of things can be customized by editing a file:
    196 <UL>
    197     <LI> Where and how to install Lua &mdash; edit <TT>Makefile</TT>.
    198     <LI> How to build Lua &mdash; edit <TT>src/Makefile</TT>.
    199     <LI> Lua features &mdash; edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT>.
    200 </UL>
    201 
    202 <P>
    203   You don't actually need to edit the Makefiles because you may set the
    204   relevant variables in the command line when invoking make.
    205   Nevertheless, it's probably best to edit and save the Makefiles to
    206   record the changes you need.
    207 
    208 <P>
    209   On the other hand, if you need to customize some Lua features, you'll need
    210   to edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT> before building and installing Lua.
    211   The edited file will be the one installed, and
    212   it will be used by any Lua clients that you build, to ensure consistency.
    213   Further customization is available to experts by editing the Lua sources.
    214 
    215 <P>
    216   We strongly recommend that you enable dynamic loading in <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT>.
    217   This is done automatically for all platforms listed above that have
    218   this feature and also for Windows.
    219 
    220 <H3><A NAME="other">Building Lua on other systems</A></H3>
    221 
    222 <P>
    223   If you're not using the usual Unix tools, then the instructions for
    224   building Lua depend on the compiler you use. You'll need to create
    225   projects (or whatever your compiler uses) for building the library,
    226   the interpreter, and the compiler, as follows:
    227 
    228 <DL CLASS="display">
    229 <DT>
    230 library:
    231 <DD>
    232 lapi.c lcode.c lctype.c ldebug.c ldo.c ldump.c lfunc.c lgc.c llex.c
    233 lmem.c lobject.c lopcodes.c lparser.c lstate.c lstring.c ltable.c
    234 ltm.c lundump.c lvm.c lzio.c
    235 lauxlib.c lbaselib.c lbitlib.c lcorolib.c ldblib.c liolib.c
    236 lmathlib.c loslib.c lstrlib.c ltablib.c loadlib.c linit.c
    237 <DT>
    238 interpreter:
    239 <DD>
    240   library, lua.c
    241 <DT>
    242 compiler:
    243 <DD>
    244   library, luac.c
    245 </DL>
    246 
    247 <P>
    248   To use Lua as a library in your own programs you'll need to know how to
    249   create and use libraries with your compiler. Moreover, to dynamically load
    250   C libraries for Lua you'll need to know how to create dynamic libraries
    251   and you'll need to make sure that the Lua API functions are accessible to
    252   those dynamic libraries &mdash; but <EM>don't</EM> link the Lua library
    253   into each dynamic library. For Unix, we recommend that the Lua library
    254   be linked statically into the host program and its symbols exported for
    255   dynamic linking; <TT>src/Makefile</TT> does this for the Lua interpreter.
    256   For Windows, we recommend that the Lua library be a DLL.
    257 
    258 <P>
    259   As mentioned above, you may edit <TT>src/luaconf.h</TT> to customize
    260   some features before building Lua.
    261 
    262 <H2><A NAME="changes">Changes since Lua 5.1</A></H2>
    263 
    264 <P>
    265 Here are the main changes introduced in Lua 5.2.
    266 The
    267 <A HREF="contents.html">reference manual</A>
    268 lists the
    269 <A HREF="manual.html#8">incompatibilities</A> that had to be introduced.
    270 
    271 <H3>Main changes</H3>
    272 <UL>
    273 <LI> yieldable pcall and metamethods
    274 <LI> new lexical scheme for globals
    275 <LI> ephemeron tables
    276 <LI> new library for bitwise operations
    277 <LI> light C functions
    278 <LI> emergency garbage collector
    279 <LI> <CODE>goto</CODE> statement
    280 <LI> finalizers for tables
    281 </UL>
    282 
    283 Here are the other changes introduced in Lua 5.2:
    284 <H3>Language</H3>
    285 <UL>
    286 <LI> no more fenv for threads or functions
    287 <LI> tables honor the <CODE>__len</CODE> metamethod
    288 <LI> hex and <CODE>\z</CODE> escapes in strings
    289 <LI> support for hexadecimal floats
    290 <LI> order metamethods work for different types
    291 <LI> no more verification of opcode consistency
    292 <LI> hook event "tail return" replaced by "tail call"
    293 <LI> empty statement
    294 <LI> <CODE>break</CODE> statement may appear in the middle of a block
    295 </UL>
    296 
    297 <H3>Libraries</H3>
    298 <UL>
    299 <LI> arguments for function called through <CODE>xpcall</CODE>
    300 <LI> optional 'mode' argument to load and loadfile (to control binary x text)
    301 <LI> optional 'env' argument to load and loadfile (environment for loaded chunk)
    302 <LI> <CODE>loadlib</CODE> may load libraries with global names (RTLD_GLOBAL)
    303 <LI> new function <CODE>package.searchpath</CODE>
    304 <LI> modules receive their paths when loaded
    305 <LI> optional base in <CODE>math.log</CODE>
    306 <LI> optional separator in <CODE>string.rep</CODE>
    307 <LI> <CODE>file:write</CODE> returns <CODE>file</CODE>
    308 <LI> closing a pipe returns exit status
    309 <LI> <CODE>os.exit</CODE> may close state
    310 <LI> new metamethods <CODE>__pairs</CODE> and <CODE>__ipairs</CODE>
    311 <LI> new option 'isrunning' for <CODE>collectgarbage</CODE> and <CODE>lua_gc</CODE>
    312 <LI> frontier patterns
    313 <LI> <CODE>\0</CODE> in patterns
    314 <LI> new option <CODE>*L</CODE> for <CODE>io.read</CODE>
    315 <LI> options for <CODE>io.lines</CODE>
    316 <LI> <CODE>debug.getlocal</CODE> can access function varargs
    317 </UL>
    318 
    319 <H3>C API</H3>
    320 <UL>
    321 <LI> main thread predefined in the registry
    322 <LI> new functions
    323 <CODE>lua_absindex</CODE>,
    324 <CODE>lua_arith</CODE>,
    325 <CODE>lua_compare</CODE>,
    326 <CODE>lua_copy</CODE>,
    327 <CODE>lua_len</CODE>,
    328 <CODE>lua_rawgetp</CODE>,
    329 <CODE>lua_rawsetp</CODE>,
    330 <CODE>lua_upvalueid</CODE>,
    331 <CODE>lua_upvaluejoin</CODE>,
    332 <CODE>lua_version</CODE>.
    333 <LI> new functions
    334 <CODE>luaL_checkversion</CODE>,
    335 <CODE>luaL_setmetatable</CODE>,
    336 <CODE>luaL_testudata</CODE>,
    337 <CODE>luaL_tolstring</CODE>.
    338 <LI> <CODE>lua_pushstring</CODE> and <CODE>pushlstring</CODE> return string
    339 <LI> <CODE>nparams</CODE> and <CODE>isvararg</CODE> available in debug API
    340 <LI> new <CODE>lua_Unsigned</CODE>
    341 </UL>
    342 
    343 <H3>Implementation</H3>
    344 <UL>
    345 <LI> max constants per function raised to 2<SUP>26</SUP>
    346 <LI> generational mode for garbage collection (experimental)
    347 <LI> NaN trick (experimental)
    348 <LI> internal (immutable) version of ctypes
    349 <LI> simpler implementation for string buffers
    350 <LI> parser uses much less C-stack space (no more auto arrays)
    351 </UL>
    352 
    353 <H3>Lua standalone interpreter</H3>
    354 <UL>
    355 <LI> new <CODE>-E</CODE> option to avoid environment variables
    356 <LI> handling of non-string error messages
    357 </UL>
    358 
    359 <H2><A NAME="license">License</A></H2>
    360 <A HREF="http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php">
    361 <IMG SRC="osi-certified-72x60.png" ALIGN="right" BORDER="0" ALT="[osi certified]" STYLE="padding-left: 30px ;">
    362 </A>
    363 
    364 <P>
    365 Lua is free software distributed under the terms of the
    366 <A HREF="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html">MIT license</A>
    367 reproduced below;
    368 it may be used for any purpose, including commercial purposes,
    369 at absolutely no cost without having to ask us.
    370 
    371 The only requirement is that if you do use Lua,
    372 then you should give us credit by including the appropriate copyright notice somewhere in your product or its documentation.
    373 
    374 For details, see
    375 <A HREF="http://www.lua.org/license.html">this</A>.
    376 
    377 <BLOCKQUOTE STYLE="padding-bottom: 0em">
    378 Copyright &copy; 1994&ndash;2013 Lua.org, PUC-Rio.
    379 
    380 <P>
    381 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
    382 of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
    383 in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
    384 to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
    385 copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
    386 furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
    387 
    388 <P>
    389 The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
    390 all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
    391 
    392 <P>
    393 THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
    394 IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
    395 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
    396 AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
    397 LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
    398 OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
    399 THE SOFTWARE.
    400 </BLOCKQUOTE>
    401 <P>
    402 
    403 <HR>
    404 <SMALL CLASS="footer">
    405 Last update:
    406 Sat Nov  9 22:39:16 BRST 2013
    407 </SMALL>
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    409 Last change: revised for Lua 5.2.3
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