Lua Addons

wiki

For items that either don't work with the current release (5.x) or development versions of Lua, or that have long-term broken links, see LuaAddonsArchive. If you notice something in the list below that falls into this category, please move it.

What should not be listed here: official Lua packages and documentation (see http://www.lua.org/), things using Lua but not of general use to users of Lua (see LuaUses), Lua web sites (see LuaLinks), or this wiki's content (see LuaDirectory).

Please don't mark an entry with an open-ended version (e.g. "5.x"), as it will likely be incorrect the moment a new Lua version is released.

Libraries and bindings

LibrariesAndBindings - list of Lua libraries and bindings to existing libraries and environments

Development environments

• [Brain Damage] (5.1) - A Lua IDE with built-in functions for manipulating windows, handling input, and using images, which is used to make simple [games] or applications
• [VSLua] (5.1) - A commercial solution to Lua language including an editor and debugger integrated within Visual Studio .Net (2002, 2003, 2005)
• [Decoda] (5.x) - A commercial IDE and debugger for Lua that allows debugging of scripts in your own application, without any code changes
• [VS Lua Language Pack] (5.1) - Open Source integration of Lua files into Visual Studio 2005
• [LuaEdit] (5.x) - Complete professional looking Lua IDE - Windows 98/2000/XP
• [LuaIDE] (5.0) - integrated development environment for Lua for Windows (New release 2004-01-29).
• [wxLua] (5.1) - a blend of Lua and wxWidgets. Provides its own IDE (written in wxLua) with a GUI debugger, a binding generator and wxWidgets bindings usable as a module (see also the LibrariesAndBindings page).
• [LuaEclipse] (5.0/5.1) - Lua IDE for the Eclipse Platform. Integrates with LuaProfiler.
• [LunarEclipse] (5.0/5.1) - Lua IDE for the Eclipse Platform. Implements a proper Eclipse perspective.
• [Vortex LuaIDE] (5.0) - Another free Lua IDE, but in Brazilian Portuguese! (Outra IDE para Lua gratuita, mas em Português!).
• [Lua Studio] (5.1) - Simple, open source Lua IDE: editor + complete debugger
• [LuaX] (5.x) - Lua with eXtensions, development platform for creating multi-OS Lua applications (with GUI, serial port etc. modules) especially suitable for Industrial Automation and Embedded products.
• [VisualWx] (5.x) - IDE for Lua & wxLua (freeware)
• [QDE] (5.x) - Quotix Development Environment for Lua. It supports project management, autocomplete functionality, a multi-document interface, debugging and much more (New release 2006-03-11 - Shareware). MS Windows only!
• [B:Lua] - Open source project to create a full featured standalone Lua IDE. (development is on ice since April 2005)
• [Zeus for Windows] - IDE with Lua syntax highlighting, code folding, project management, integrated version control. The IDE is fully scriptable using Lua (Shareware).

See also LuaEditorSupport.

Code wrappers

• LunaWrapper for C++ - clean, template-based method of binding a C++ class to Lua.
• [BlitzMax] (5.1.2) - a BlitzMax module wrapping Lua 5.1.2 (note: the link currently points into this wiki (which is usually a bad idea in this list) but this will change as soon as the package has its own web site)
• [CaLua] (5.0) - A way to bind C functions and structures to Lua, and work with C pointers, arrays and functions in Lua. (uses x86 assembly)
• [CPB] (5.0)(Win32) - Bridging C++ and Lua, allow the two languages to seamlessly communicate with each other.
• [CppLua] (5.0) - An easy to use C++ wrapper of the lua API, handles class member functions.
• [Lua4Delphi] (5.1) - Delphi and VCL Lua interface and Util functions.
• [Diluculum] (5.1) - A library that intends to make the coexistence of C++ and Lua more harmonious.
• [dotLua] (5.0) - A .NET/CLI library, wrapping the Lua API.
• [LuaInterface] (5.1) - A well-maintained library for integration with .NET/CLI
• [FreeBASIC] - A open-source BASIC compiler that comes with the Lua headers and libraries.
• [lua2c] (4.0) - a tool for converting Lua code into C.
• [luabind] (5.0) - template-based binding of C++ classes and functions
• [luaCLIPS] (5.1) - the CLIPS expert system tool in a Lua accessible Win DLL
• [luapi] (5.0) - a C api over the official Lua api.
• LunaticPython [1] (5.1) - Lua/Python two-way bridge. Allows embedding of Lua interpreter in Python programs, and embedding of Python interpreter in Lua programs.
• [MLuaBind] (5.1) - template-based binding of C++ classes and functions
• [PBLua] (5.0.2) - a Purebasic library wrapping Lua 5.0.2 (deprecated).
• [PowerBLua] (5.0) - PowerBASIC include & source for wrapping Lua (work in progress).
• [SWIG] (5.0) - An easy to use tool to automatically bind C/C++ code to Lua and many other scripting languages
• [tolua] (5.x) - a tool to automatically bind C/C++ code to Lua.
• [tolua++] (5.x) - an extended version of tolua, with some extra features oriented to c++. ( CompilingToluappWithoutScons i.e., Compiling Tolua++ Without SCons )
• [wxScript] (5.0.2) - A set of abstract classes to add script-interpreter support to your wxWidgets applications/libraries.
• [MultiScript] (5.1) - simple library that demonstrates Lua independent C++ interface to bind C++ classes and functions
• [SLB] (5.1.3) - Simple Lua Binder, template-based library very similar to luabind but without boost.
• [LÖVE] (5.x) - LÖVE is an open-source 2D game engine which uses Lua as main language. It relies on OpenGL graphics and the SDL interface library to allow for cross-platform implementation.

Tools

• Source Analysis
  • [Lua Checker] (5.1) - Analyzes Lua source for common programming errors, much as the "lint" program does for C. Contains a Lua 5.1 bison parser.
• Source reformaters/translators
  • [HW2 Pretty-Printer] (4.0) - A pretty-printer for Lua source-code. (May work with later editions of Lua. Currently works only on Windows.)
  • [LuaSrcDiet] (5.x) - reduces size of Lua files by removing whitespace and comments, optimizing constants, and renaming local variables
• Building and Packaging
  • [LuaRocks] (5.1) - a deployment and management system for Lua modules.
  • [Hamster (ex SCons/Lua)] (5.x) - Lua front-end to the SCons build engine (or others).
  • [lua bakefile] (5.0.2) - makefiles and project files for building the LUA project
  • [tolua bakefile] (5.0.2) - makefiles and project files for building the TOLUA project
• Documentation
  • ExpLua (5.0) - another tool for code documentation (still in development).
• Debugging
  • [ctrace] (5.0) - a tool for tracing Lua API calls.
  • [xdbLua] A simple Lua command line debugger for Windows.
  • [clidebugger] A simple portable Lua command line debugger.
• Profiling
  • [LuaProfiler] (5.0) - a time profiler designed to help finding bottlenecks on your Lua program
• Assembler/Disassembler/Bytecodes
  • [ChunkSpy] (5.x) - a binary chunk disassembler, with interactive mode, reading custom binary chunk formats, etc. Disassembles 5.0.2 or 5.1 binary chunks.
  • [ChunkBake] (5.0.2) - a line-oriented assembler for Lua 5 virtual machine instructions
  • [LuaDec] (5.0.2) - A Lua decompiler (Lua 5.0 specific, does not work with 5.1).
  • [LuaDC] (4.0) - A Lua decompiler.
  • [CFLuaDC] (4.0) Another Lua 4 decompiler.
• Tools implemented in Lua
  • [ldiff & lpatch] (5.1) A very small diff and patch tool for binary files.
• Editor
  • [LuaPatternPlugin] (5.0) - an Eclipse plugin for testing patterns (OSX binaries only)
• Web
  • [Kepler Project] (5.0) - Web template engine for Lua 5.0 using [CGILua 5.0].
  • [Mod_Lua (5.0)] - An Apache 2 module to enable web based applications much like PHP.
  • [Mod_Wombat (5.1)] - Another Apache 2 module for Lua-scripting web pages.
• Other
  • [lper] (5.0) - a tool for making persistent Lua states, based on [GNU mmalloc] (part of GDB).
  • [LuaObjCBridge] (5.x) - Access to Objective-C from Lua.
  • [Ngui] - An Xml/Lua binding to win32 Gui for windows98/NT/2000/Xp and PocketPC (windowsCE Arm).
  • [SMC] (5.x) - the State Machine Compiler targets Lua (among many others languages).
  • [NTLua] (5.1) - a console application to create Windows NT administration and logon scripts.
  • PlutoLibrary (5.x) - heavy-duty persistence and serialization for Lua.

Documentation

• Language and VM:
  • [Lua 5.1 Manual (chm)] (5.1.1) - Lua 5.1 manual converted to Microsoft's HTML Help format.
  • [Lua 5 Manual (webbook)] (5.0) - Lua 5.0 manual, converted to webbook format
  • [Lua 5 Quick Reference] (5.0) - A Lua 5 reference booklet (PDF), including a version with colour navigation tabs.
  • [A No-Frills Introduction to Lua 5 VM Instructions] (5.0/5.1) - ODT and PDF formats. There are two versions, one for Lua 5.0.2 and one for Lua 5.1.
  • [An Overview of Lua] - Slides by Julia Lawall (PDF).
  • [Introducing Lua] by Keith Fieldhouse.
  • See also LuaLinks.
  • [Luai] - an alternative method of browsing (and searching) the Lua 5.1 reference manual
  • LuaHelp - a command line hack that extracts sections of the manual for easier reading similar in functionality to [Luai]
• Modules:
  • LuaSearch - navigate Lua module documentation (HTML and POD formats online)

Distributions

See LuaBinaries for links to precompiled vanilla Lua 5.0 executables for various platforms. Real binaries (without addons) should move from here to there.

• [LuaAIO] - (5.1) - Fast and Easy Lua distribution providing OS integrated functionnalities and using external libraries.
• [BLua] - "bloated" lua, cgi-based patch merger for most common LuaPowerPatches against current lua (5.1.1)
• [LuaCheia] (5.0) - Lua 5.0 for GNU/Linux, Mac/OS X, Windows, *BSD, Solaris, etc. Includes many add-on binary modules.
• [LuaJIT] (5.1) - A just-in-time (JIT) compiler for Lua 5.1 (x86 only right now).
• [LuaPlus] (5.1) - C++ enhancements and various extensions to core Lua functionality
• [Linux RPMs] (5.0) - i386 binary, source and spec file for Lua 5.0.2
• [RPMs for Lua] (5.0) - from Rpmfind.Net.
• [RPMs with Lua modules]
• [Lua 5 for EPOC] (5.0) - Lua 5.0.1 for Symbian OS v1-5.
• [LuaCE] (5.0) - additional source files for compiling Lua for Windows CE. (Dead link)
• [LuaPPC] (5.0) - Stand-alone Lua 5.0 interpreter for the Pocket PC. (Built using LuaCE above.)
• [Lua5.1-CE] - Lua5.1 for WinCE. Tool: EVC4. OS: WinCE 4.2. Base on the work of LuaCE(5.0)
• [LuaPocket] (5.0) - Stand-alone Lua 5.0 interpreter for the Pocket PC with graphic support. (Built using LuaPPC above.)
• [Lua for RISC OS] (5.1)
• [Lua for Palm OS] (5.0) Port of Lua for Palm (in alpha).
• [Lua89] (5.0) Experimental port of Lua to the TI89 graphing calculator.
• [RHEL4/Centos4 RPMS] These packages include readline and loadlib support, as well as the LuaSocket? and posix extension libraries. While the binary RPMS are for RHEL4, the SRPM will probably build on most RedHat?-9ish and later systems.
• [Lua for Slackware Linux] Lua package (5.0.2) for Slackware 10.1 and -current versions.
• [MurgaLua] (5.1) a complete Lua runtime in a single file for Windows, Linux, and MacOSX, bundled with LuaFltk?, LuaSocket? and LuaSQLite.
• [Lua Windows Service] (5.1) Lua binary hosted in a Windows Service framework, allowing development of Windows Services in Lua. Still in alpha release, but should be complete enough to be useful.

Alternative implementations of Lua

LuaImplementations - list of alternate implementations of Lua

Other resources

• [lua-std.ico] - a standard ico file containing Lua icons at resolutions 16x16, 32x32 and 48x48 pixels, all in both 8bits and 32bits format (22kB)
• [lua-full.ico] - same as lua-std.ico, with additionnal 32bits (no 8bits) icons at resolutions 64x64, 96x96, 128x128, 192x192 and 256x256 (/!\ 555kB)
• [lua-icons-png.zip] - contains source png of the above ico files, resolutions are 16x16, 32x32, 48x48, 64x64, 96x96, 128x128, 192x192 and 256x256, 32bits colors with transparency (56kB)

• [PNLuaSupport] - An C++ Lua5 support library current in development.