lua-build

lua-build is an luaenv plugin that provides a luaenv install command to compile and install different versions of Lua on UNIX-like systems. It works just like ruby-build since it is ruby-build but for lua.

You can also use lua-build without luaenv in environments where you need precise control over Lua version installation.

Installation

Installing as an luaenv plugin (recommended)

Installing lua-build as an luaenv plugin will give you access to the luaenv install command.

git clone git://github.com/cehoffman/lua-build.git ~/.luaenv/plugins/lua-build

This will install the latest development version of lua-build into the ~/.luaenv/plugins/lua-build directory. From that directory, you can check out a specific release tag. To update lua-build, run git pull to download the latest changes.

Installing as a standalone program (advanced)

Installing lua-build as a standalone program will give you access to the lua-build command for precise control over Lua version installation. If you have luaenv installed, you will also be able to use the luaenv install command.

git clone git://github.com/cehoffman/lua-build.git
cd lua-build
./install.sh

This will install lua-build into /usr/local. If you do not have write permission to /usr/local, you will need to run sudo ./install.sh instead. You can install to a different prefix by setting the PREFIX environment variable.

To update lua-build after it has been installed, run git pull in your cloned copy of the repository, then re-run the install script.

Installing with Homebrew (for macOS users)

macOS users can install lua-build with the Homebrew package manager. This will give you access to the lua-build command. If you have luaenv installed, you will also be able to use the luaenv install command.

This is the recommended method of installation if you installed luaenv with Homebrew.

brew install lua-build

Or, if you would like to install the latest development release:

brew install --HEAD lua-build

Usage

Using luaenv install with luaenv

To install a Lua version for use with luaenv, run luaenv install with the exact name of the version you want to install. For example,

luaenv install 5.2.1

Lua versions will be installed into a directory of the same name under ~/.luaenv/versions.

To see a list of all available Lua versions, run luaenv install --list. You may also tab-complete available Lua versions if your luaenv installation is properly configured.

Using lua-build standalone

If you have installed lua-build as a standalone program, you can use the lua-build command to compile and install Lua versions into specific locations.

Run the lua-build command with the exact name of the version you want to install and the full path where you want to install it. For example,

lua-build 5.1.5 ~/local/lua-5.1.5

To see a list of all available Lua versions, run lua-build --definitions.

Pass the -v or --verbose flag to lua-build as the first argument to see what's happening under the hood.

Custom definitions

Both luaenv install and lua-build accept a path to a custom definition file in place of a version name. Custom definitions let you develop and install versions of Lua that are not yet supported by lua-build.

See the lua-build built-in definitions as a starting point for custom definition files.

Special environment variables

You can set certain environment variables to control the build process.

• TMPDIR sets the location where lua-build stores temporary files.
• LUA_BUILD_BUILD_PATH sets the location in which sources are downloaded and built. By default, this is a subdirectory of TMPDIR.
• LUA_BUILD_CACHE_PATH, if set, specifies a directory to use for caching downloaded package files.
• LUA_BUILD_MIRROR_URL overrides the default mirror URL root to one of your choosing.
• LUA_BUILD_SKIP_MIRROR, if set, forces lua-build to download packages from their original source URLs instead of using a mirror.
• CC sets the path to the C compiler.
• CONFIGURE_OPTS lets you pass additional options to ./configure.
• MAKE lets you override the command to use for make. Useful for specifying GNU make (gmake) on some systems.
• MAKE_OPTS (or MAKEOPTS) lets you pass additional options to make.
• LUA_CONFIGURE_OPTS and LUA_MAKE_OPTS allow you to specify configure and make options for buildling MRI. These variables will be passed to Lua only, not any dependent packages (e.g. libyaml).

Checksum verification

If you have the md5, openssl, or md5sum tool installed, lua-build will automatically verify the MD5 checksum of each downloaded package before installing it.

Checksums are optional and specified as anchors on the package URL in each definition. (All bundled definitions include checksums.)

Package download mirrors

lua-build will first attempt to download package files from a mirror hosted on Amazon CloudFront. If a package is not available on the mirror, if the mirror is down, or if the download is corrupt, lua-build will fall back to the official URL specified in the defintion file.

You can point lua-build to another mirror by specifying the LUA_BUILD_MIRROR_URL environment variable--useful if you'd like to run your own local mirror, for example. Package mirror URLs are constructed by joining this variable with the MD5 checksum of the package file.

If you don't have an MD5 program installed, lua-build will skip the download mirror and use official URLs instead. You can force lua-build to bypass the mirror by setting the LUA_BUILD_SKIP_MIRROR environment variable.

Package download caching

You can instruct lua-build to keep a local cache of downloaded package files by setting the LUA_BUILD_CACHE_PATH environment variable. When set, package files will be kept in this directory after the first successful download and reused by subsequent invocations of lua-build and luaenv install.

The luaenv install command defaults this path to ~/.luaenv/cache, so in most cases you can enable download caching simply by creating that directory.

Keeping the build directory after installation

Both lua-build and luaenv install accept the -k or --keep flag, which tells lua-build to keep the downloaded source after installation. This can be useful if you need to use gdb and memprof with Lua.

Source code will be kept in a parallel directory tree ~/.luaenv/sources when using --keep with the luaenv install command. You should specify the location of the source code with the LUA_BUILD_BUILD_PATH environment variable when using --keep with lua-build.

Getting Help

Please see the lua-build wiki for solutions to common problems.

If you can't find an answer on the wiki, open an issue on the issue tracker. Be sure to include the full build log for build failures.

License

(The MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2013 Sam Stephenson, Chris Hoffman

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.