NAME
luac - Lua compiler
SYNOPSIS
luac [ options ] [ filenames ]
DESCRIPTION
luac is the Lua compiler. It translates programs written in the Lua
programming language into binary files that can be latter loaded and
executed.
The main advantages of precompiling chunks are: faster loading,
protecting source code from user changes, and off-line syntax checking.
Pre-compiling does not imply faster execution because in Lua chunks are
always compiled into bytecodes before being executed. luac simply
allows those bytecodes to be saved in a file for later execution.
luac produces a single output file containing the bytecodes for all
source files given. By default, the output file is named luac.out, but
you can change this with the -o option.
The binary files created by luac are portable to all architectures with
the same word size. This means that binary files created on a 32-bit
platform (such as Intel) can be read without change in another 32-bit
platform (such as Sparc), even if the byte order (‘‘endianness’’) is
different. On the other hand, binary files created on a 16-bit
platform cannot be read in a 32-bit platform, nor vice-versa.
In the command line, you can mix text files containing Lua source and
binary files containing precompiled chunks. This is useful to combine
several precompiled chunks, even from different (but compatible)
platforms, into a single precompiled chunk.
You can use - to indicate the standard input as a source file and -- to
signal the end of options (that is, all remaining arguments will be
treated as files even if they start with -).
The internal format of the binary files produced by luac is likely to
change when a new version of Lua is released. So, save the source
files of all Lua programs that you precompile.
OPTIONS
Options must be separate.
-l produce a listing of the compiled bytecode for Lua’s virtual
machine. Listing bytecodes is useful to learn about Lua’s
virtual machine. If no files are given, then luac loads
luac.out and lists its contents.
-o file
output to file, instead of the default luac.out. The output
file may be a source file because all files are loaded before
the output file is written. Be careful not to overwrite
precious files.
-p load files but do not generate any output file. Used mainly for
syntax checking and for testing precompiled chunks: corrupted
files will probably generate errors when loaded. Lua always
performs a thorough integrity test on precompiled chunks.
Bytecode that passes this test is completely safe, in the sense
that it will not break the interpreter. However, there is no
guarantee that such code does anything sensible. (None can be
given, because the halting problem is unsolvable.) If no files
are given, then luac loads luac.out and tests its contents. No
messages are displayed if the file passes the integrity test.
-s strip debug information before writing the output file. This
saves some space in very large chunks, but if errors occur when
running these chunks, then the error messages may not contain
the full information they usually do (line numbers and names of
locals are lost).
-v show version information.
FILES
luac.out default output file
SEE ALSO
lua(1)
http://www.lua.org/
DIAGNOSTICS
Error messages should be self explanatory.
AUTHORS
L. H. de Figueiredo, R. Ierusalimschy and W. Celes (lua@tecgraf.puc-
rio.br)
2002/12/13 11:45:12 LUAC(1)