AppPkg/Applications/Lua/doc/luac.1

   1 .\" $Id: luac.man,v 1.29 2011/11/16 13:53:40 lhf Exp $
   2 .TH LUAC 1 "$Date: 2011/11/16 13:53:40 $"
   3 .SH NAME
   4 luac \- Lua compiler
   5 .SH SYNOPSIS
   6 .B luac
   7 [
   8 .I options
   9 ] [
  10 .I filenames
  11 ]
  12 .SH DESCRIPTION
  13 .B luac
  14 is the Lua compiler.
  15 It translates programs written in the Lua programming language
  16 into binary files containing precompiled chunks
  17 that can be later loaded and executed.
  18 .LP
  19 The main advantages of precompiling chunks are:
  20 faster loading,
  21 protecting source code from accidental user changes,
  22 and
  23 off-line syntax checking.
  24 Precompiling does not imply faster execution
  25 because in Lua chunks are always compiled into bytecodes before being executed.
  26 .B luac
  27 simply allows those bytecodes to be saved in a file for later execution.
  28 Precompiled chunks are not necessarily smaller than the corresponding source.
  29 The main goal in precompiling is faster loading.
  30 .LP
  31 In the command line,
  32 you can mix
  33 text files containing Lua source and
  34 binary files containing precompiled chunks.
  35 .B luac
  36 produces a single output file containing the combined bytecodes
  37 for all files given.
  38 Executing the combined file is equivalent to executing the given files.
  39 By default,
  40 the output file is named
  41 .BR luac.out ,
  42 but you can change this with the
  43 .B \-o
  44 option.
  45 .LP
  46 Precompiled chunks are
  47 .I not
  48 portable across different architectures.
  49 Moreover,
  50 the internal format of precompiled chunks
  51 is likely to change when a new version of Lua is released.
  52 Make sure you save the source files of all Lua programs that you precompile.
  53 .LP
  54 .SH OPTIONS
  55 .TP
  56 .B \-l
  57 produce a listing of the compiled bytecode for Lua's virtual machine.
  58 Listing bytecodes is useful to learn about Lua's virtual machine.
  59 If no files are given, then
  60 .B luac
  61 loads
  62 .B luac.out
  63 and lists its contents.
  64 Use
  65 .B \-l \-l
  66 for a full listing.
  67 .TP
  68 .BI \-o " file"
  69 output to
  70 .IR file ,
  71 instead of the default
  72 .BR luac.out .
  73 (You can use
  74 .B "'\-'"
  75 for standard output,
  76 but not on platforms that open standard output in text mode.)
  77 The output file may be one of the given files because
  78 all files are loaded before the output file is written.
  79 Be careful not to overwrite precious files.
  80 .TP
  81 .B \-p
  82 load files but do not generate any output file.
  83 Used mainly for syntax checking and for testing precompiled chunks:
  84 corrupted files will probably generate errors when loaded.
  85 If no files are given, then
  86 .B luac
  87 loads
  88 .B luac.out
  89 and tests its contents.
  90 No messages are displayed if the file loads without errors.
  91 .TP
  92 .B \-s
  93 strip debug information before writing the output file.
  94 This saves some space in very large chunks,
  95 but if errors occur when running a stripped chunk,
  96 then the error messages may not contain the full information they usually do.
  97 In particular,
  98 line numbers and names of local variables are lost.
  99 .TP
 100 .B \-v
 101 show version information.
 102 .TP
 103 .B \-\-
 104 stop handling options.
 105 .TP
 106 .B \-
 107 stop handling options and process standard input.
 108 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 109 .BR lua (1)
 110 .br
 111 The documentation at lua.org.
 112 .SH DIAGNOSTICS
 113 Error messages should be self explanatory.
 114 .SH AUTHORS
 115 R. Ierusalimschy,
 116 L. H. de Figueiredo,
 117 W. Celes
 118 .\" EOF