| .\" $Id: luac.man,v 1.29 2011/11/16 13:53:40 lhf Exp $ |
| .TH LUAC 1 "$Date: 2011/11/16 13:53:40 $" |
| .SH NAME |
| luac \- Lua compiler |
| .SH SYNOPSIS |
| .B luac |
| [ |
| .I options |
| ] [ |
| .I filenames |
| ] |
| .SH DESCRIPTION |
| .B luac |
| is the Lua compiler. |
| It translates programs written in the Lua programming language |
| into binary files containing precompiled chunks |
| that can be later loaded and executed. |
| .LP |
| The main advantages of precompiling chunks are: |
| faster loading, |
| protecting source code from accidental user changes, |
| and |
| off-line syntax checking. |
| Precompiling does not imply faster execution |
| because in Lua chunks are always compiled into bytecodes before being executed. |
| .B luac |
| simply allows those bytecodes to be saved in a file for later execution. |
| Precompiled chunks are not necessarily smaller than the corresponding source. |
| The main goal in precompiling is faster loading. |
| .LP |
| In the command line, |
| you can mix |
| text files containing Lua source and |
| binary files containing precompiled chunks. |
| .B luac |
| produces a single output file containing the combined bytecodes |
| for all files given. |
| Executing the combined file is equivalent to executing the given files. |
| By default, |
| the output file is named |
| .BR luac.out , |
| but you can change this with the |
| .B \-o |
| option. |
| .LP |
| Precompiled chunks are |
| .I not |
| portable across different architectures. |
| Moreover, |
| the internal format of precompiled chunks |
| is likely to change when a new version of Lua is released. |
| Make sure you save the source files of all Lua programs that you precompile. |
| .LP |
| .SH OPTIONS |
| .TP |
| .B \-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 |
| .B luac |
| loads |
| .B luac.out |
| and lists its contents. |
| Use |
| .B \-l \-l |
| for a full listing. |
| .TP |
| .BI \-o " file" |
| output to |
| .IR file , |
| instead of the default |
| .BR luac.out . |
| (You can use |
| .B "'\-'" |
| for standard output, |
| but not on platforms that open standard output in text mode.) |
| The output file may be one of the given files because |
| all files are loaded before the output file is written. |
| Be careful not to overwrite precious files. |
| .TP |
| .B \-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. |
| If no files are given, then |
| .B luac |
| loads |
| .B luac.out |
| and tests its contents. |
| No messages are displayed if the file loads without errors. |
| .TP |
| .B \-s |
| strip debug information before writing the output file. |
| This saves some space in very large chunks, |
| but if errors occur when running a stripped chunk, |
| then the error messages may not contain the full information they usually do. |
| In particular, |
| line numbers and names of local variables are lost. |
| .TP |
| .B \-v |
| show version information. |
| .TP |
| .B \-\- |
| stop handling options. |
| .TP |
| .B \- |
| stop handling options and process standard input. |
| .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| .BR lua (1) |
| .br |
| The documentation at lua.org. |
| .SH DIAGNOSTICS |
| Error messages should be self explanatory. |
| .SH AUTHORS |
| R. Ierusalimschy, |
| L. H. de Figueiredo, |
| W. Celes |
| .\" EOF |
|
|
