#2926: New package: Lua
-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
Reporter: a...@… | Owner: gdalziel
Type: enhancement | Status: assigned
Priority: normal | Milestone: 6.5
Component: BOOK | Version: SVN
Severity: normal | Keywords:
-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
Old description:
> About Lua.
>
> Lua was designed as an extension language and because of this is small.
> However, this doesn't mean is not rich or it's not expressive (quite the
> opposite, especially if you know the roots (1) of Roberto Ierusalimschy
> (the main Lua author) which is Scheme.
>
> The Lua project is hosted at http://www.lua.org
>
> Current version is 5.1.4 and it has no dependencies.
>
> The Lua distribution doesn't provide a configure script, so there are
> just "make" targets.
> To compile Lua we just need to issue, a "make linux" from the top level
> from the distribution.
>
> By default the installation goes into the /usr/local hierarchy, so we
> need to use the INSTALL_TOP and INSTALL_LIB variables to change that,
> with
>
> {{{
> make install INSTALL_TOP=/usr INSTALL_LIB=/usr/lib
> }}}
>
> Lua ships with an etc/lua.pc file, that also needs some fixing
>
> {{{
> %s@/local@@
> }}}
>
> As a final step we place the .pc file into /usr/lib/pkgconfig with
> 0644 permissions.
>
> That's it. Using those instructions, here is the package provides
> analytically
> (not so much as expected)
>
> {{{
> /usr/bin/lua
> /usr/bin/luac
> /usr/include/lua.hpp
> /usr/lib/liblua.a
> /usr/lib/pkgconfig/lua.pc
> /usr/man/man1/lua.1
> /usr/man/man1/luac.1
> /usr/include/lauxlib.h
> /usr/include/lua.h
> /usr/include/luaconf.h
> /usr/include/lualib.h
> }}}
>
> Now. As it has been said already, Lua is tiny and minimalist yet quite
> expressive,
> so doesn't provides any batteries with it, like the most scripting
> languages usually do
> today.
>
> To overcome this, the Lua community created many excellent modules (to
> complement the Lua core), which they provide specifics functions.
> Like a socket interface (2), or luaposix(3) or modules that offering
> various bindings, e.g., gui toolkits.
>
> All these modules (usually are hosted at luaforge.net) are not officially
> supported.
>
> A module system was implemented, which is the LuaRocks (4).
> The purpose of LuaRocks is to (per word) provide a deployment and
> management system for Lua modules,
> something like cpan or RubyGems.
> The current release is in first stable version with minor releases with
> bug-fixes.
> The LuaRocks team is on a process to a 2.* new stable release, with a
> big difference from current stable.
>
> Currently LuaRocks is installed into /usr/share/lua/5.1/luarocks and by
> default all the
> installed modules goes into /usr/lib/luarocks/rocks hierarchy. The user
> then
> should include a "include luarocks" on top of the script to start using
> the modules.
>
> That is what is going to change. Modules would be installed to the
> standard locations,
> i.e., LUA_PATH and LUA_CPATH.
>
> Now. The above variables are both paths that Lua is searching for
> modules.
>
> The first is the LUA_PATH, that e.g., for the 5.1.4 release is
> /usr/share/lua/5.1 and the second is
> the LUA_CPATH that is /usr/lib/lua/5.1
>
> The simple difference is that in LUA_PATH are located modules which are
> just plain text files with a .lua extension, and in the UA_CPATH are
> located modules written in C with embedded Lua code (*.so files).
>
> Those two variables can be used in runtime, so the user should know about
> their importance.
>
> There is another approach.
>
> Below are vim sunstitutions to src/luaconf.h which we can applying them
> before the installation
> as the very first step (if I remember well, I've adopted them from a
> gentoo patch), where we
> are defining where Lua will look for the modules, that means in our case
> under /usr/{lib,share}/lua/5.1.
>
> {{{
> %...@^#d.\{-}e \(LUA_ROOT\).*@&\r#define \12\t"/usr/"@
> %...@^\(#d.*\)\(LUA_LDIR\)\(.*T\)\(.*\)@&\r\1\22\32\4@
> %...@^\(#d.*\)\(LUA_CDIR\)\(.*T\)\(.*\)@&\r\1\22\32\4@
> %...@^\s*".\{-}\s\(LUA_LDIR\)\(.\{-}\s\)\1\(.*\)\n\(\s*\)@&\12\2\12\3\r\4@
> g/\.so;/s/\(.*\)"/\1;" LUA_CDIR2"?.so"/
> }}}
>
> So in a conclusion, we have to write an additional page or extend the lua
> page (that might add some bloat, though this depends from the
> implementation) describing the above and with instructions to:
>
> * install and use LuaRocks
>
> * download and install four/five important and popular Lua modules (I do
> have the instructions and I can provide them when needed)
>
> Another thing to know is if we want to build the shared library,
> liblua.so or just the static liblua.a. If we need to build the shared
> library we should do a research how the other distributions
> do build the shared library. There is also a patch written for 5.1.1,
> which can still be valid, from Luca Piol in
>
> http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/attachment/ticket/2173/lua-5.1.1-makeso-1.patch
>
> As I am not in a position to build a 6.5 LFS, I can't really do this
> ticket, so I would welcome a collaboration from editor(s) that are
> interested.
>
> 1.
> http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/260022/-z_programming_languages_lua
>
> 2. http://luaforge.net/projects/luasocket/
>
> 3. http://luaforge.net/projects/luaposix/
>
> 4. http://www.luarocks.org/
New description:
About Lua.
Lua was designed as an extension language and because of this is small.
However, this doesn't mean is not rich or it's not expressive (quite the
opposite, especially if you know that Scheme was a source for a major
inspiration (1) for Roberto Ierusalimschy (the main Lua author).
The Lua project is hosted at http://www.lua.org
Current version is 5.1.4 and it has no dependencies.
The Lua distribution doesn't provide a configure script but just a
Makefile, so there are just "make" targets.
To compile Lua we just need to issue, a "make linux" from the top level
off the distribution.
By default the installation goes into the /usr/local hierarchy, so we need
to use the INSTALL_TOP and INSTALL_LIB variables to change that, with:
{{{
make install INSTALL_TOP=/usr INSTALL_LIB=/usr/lib
}}}
Lua ships with an etc/lua.pc file, that also needs some fixing:
{{{
%s@/local@@
}}}
As a final step we place the .pc file into /usr/lib/pkgconfig with
0644 permissions.
That's it. Using those instructions the package provides (analytically):
{{{
/usr/bin/lua
/usr/bin/luac
/usr/include/lua.hpp
/usr/lib/liblua.a
/usr/lib/pkgconfig/lua.pc
/usr/man/man1/lua.1
/usr/man/man1/luac.1
/usr/include/lauxlib.h
/usr/include/lua.h
/usr/include/luaconf.h
/usr/include/lualib.h
}}}
(not so much as expected)
Now. As it has been said already, Lua is tiny and minimalist so doesn't
provides any batteries with it, like the most scripting languages usually
do today and developers are used to have.
To overcome this, the Lua community had created many excellent modules (to
complement the Lua core), which they provide specifics functions; like a
socket interface (2), or luaposix(3) or modules that offering various
bindings, e.g., gui toolkits.
All these modules (usually are hosted at luaforge.net) are not officially
supported.
A package system was implemented, which is the LuaRocks (4).
The purpose of LuaRocks is to (per word) provide a deployment and
management system for Lua modules,
something like cpan or RubyGems.
The current release is in the first stable version, with minor releases
that offers mainly bug-fixes but with no visible changes in the
functionality.
The LuaRocks team is on a process to a 2.* new stable release, with a big
difference from current stable.
Currently LuaRocks is installed into /usr/share/lua/5.1/luarocks and by
default all the installed modules goes into /usr/lib/luarocks/rocks
hierarchy. The user then should include a require("luarocks")" on top of
the script to start using the modules.
That is what is going to change. Modules would be installed to the
standard locations,
i.e., LUA_PATH and LUA_CPATH.
Now. The above variables are both paths, that Lua is searching for
modules.
LUA_PATH for the 5.1.4 release is /usr/share/lua/5.1 and LUA_CPATH is
/usr/lib/lua/5.1 (assuming prefix is /usr).
The simple difference between those two, is that in LUA_PATH are located
modules which are just plain text files with a .lua extension, and in
LUA_CPATH are located modules written in C with embedded Lua code (*.so
files).
Those two variables can be used in runtime, so the user should know about
their importance.
There is another approach.
Below are vim substitutions to "src/luaconf.h" which we can apply them
before the installation, as the very first step (if I remember well, I've
adopted them from a gentoo patch), where we are defining where Lua will
search for modules, that means in our case under /usr/{lib,share}/lua/5.1.
{{{
%...@^#d.\{-}e \(LUA_ROOT\).*@&\r#define \12\t"/usr/"@
%...@^\(#d.*\)\(LUA_LDIR\)\(.*T\)\(.*\)@&\r\1\22\32\4@
%...@^\(#d.*\)\(LUA_CDIR\)\(.*T\)\(.*\)@&\r\1\22\32\4@
%...@^\s*".\{-}\s\(LUA_LDIR\)\(.\{-}\s\)\1\(.*\)\n\(\s*\)@&\12\2\12\3\r\4@
g/\.so;/s/\(.*\)"/\1;" LUA_CDIR2"?.so"/
}}}
So in a conclusion, we have to write an additional page or extend the lua
page (that might add some bloat, though this depends from the
implementation) describing the above and with instructions to:
* install and use LuaRocks
* download and install some important and popular Lua modules (I do have
the instructions and I can provide them when needed)
Another thing to know is: Do we want to build the shared library,
liblua.so or just the static liblua.a? If we need to build the shared
library, we should do a research to see how the other distributions do
build the (shared) library. There is also a patch written for 5.1.1, which
can still be valid, from Luca Piol at:
http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/attachment/ticket/2173/lua-5.1.1-makeso-1.patch
As I am not in a position to build a 6.5 LFS, I can't really do this
ticket, so I would welcome a collaboration from editor(s) that are
interested.
1.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/260022/-z_programming_languages_lua
2. http://luaforge.net/projects/luasocket/
3. http://luaforge.net/projects/luaposix/
4. http://www.luarocks.org/
--
Comment(by a...@…):
Fixed some typos to the description.
Also see ticket #2929 for a new Lua Modules page.
--
Ticket URL: <http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/ticket/2926#comment:2>
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