146 lines
3.8 KiB
HTML
146 lines
3.8 KiB
HTML
<!-- $Id: luac.man,v 1.28 2006/01/06 16:03:34 lhf Exp $ -->
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<TITLE>LUAC man page</TITLE>
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<LINK REL="stylesheet" TYPE="text/css" HREF="lua.css">
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</HEAD>
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">
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<H2>NAME</H2>
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luac - Lua compiler
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<H2>SYNOPSIS</H2>
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<B>luac</B>
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[
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<I>options</I>
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] [
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<I>filenames</I>
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]
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<H2>DESCRIPTION</H2>
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<B>luac</B>
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is the Lua compiler.
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It translates programs written in the Lua programming language
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into binary files that can be later loaded and executed.
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<P>
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The main advantages of precompiling chunks are:
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faster loading,
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protecting source code from accidental user changes,
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and
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off-line syntax checking.
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<P>
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Precompiling does not imply faster execution
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because in Lua chunks are always compiled into bytecodes before being executed.
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<B>luac</B>
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simply allows those bytecodes to be saved in a file for later execution.
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<P>
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Precompiled chunks are not necessarily smaller than the corresponding source.
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The main goal in precompiling is faster loading.
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<P>
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The binary files created by
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<B>luac</B>
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are portable only among architectures with the same word size and byte order.
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<P>
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<B>luac</B>
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produces a single output file containing the bytecodes
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for all source files given.
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By default,
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the output file is named
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<B>luac.out</B>,
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but you can change this with the
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<B>-o</B>
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option.
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<P>
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In the command line,
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you can mix
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text files containing Lua source and
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binary files containing precompiled chunks.
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This is useful because several precompiled chunks,
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even from different (but compatible) platforms,
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can be combined into a single precompiled chunk.
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<P>
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You can use
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<B>'-'</B>
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to indicate the standard input as a source file
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and
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<B>'--'</B>
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to signal the end of options
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(that is,
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all remaining arguments will be treated as files even if they start with
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<B>'-'</B>).
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<P>
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The internal format of the binary files produced by
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<B>luac</B>
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is likely to change when a new version of Lua is released.
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So,
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save the source files of all Lua programs that you precompile.
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<P>
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<H2>OPTIONS</H2>
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Options must be separate.
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<P>
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<B>-l</B>
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produce a listing of the compiled bytecode for Lua's virtual machine.
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Listing bytecodes is useful to learn about Lua's virtual machine.
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If no files are given, then
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<B>luac</B>
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loads
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<B>luac.out</B>
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and lists its contents.
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<P>
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<B>-o </B><I>file</I>
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output to
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<I>file</I>,
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instead of the default
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<B>luac.out</B>.
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(You can use
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<B>'-'</B>
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for standard output,
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but not on platforms that open standard output in text mode.)
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The output file may be a source file because
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all files are loaded before the output file is written.
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Be careful not to overwrite precious files.
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<P>
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<B>-p</B>
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load files but do not generate any output file.
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Used mainly for syntax checking and for testing precompiled chunks:
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corrupted files will probably generate errors when loaded.
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Lua always performs a thorough integrity test on precompiled chunks.
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Bytecode that passes this test is completely safe,
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in the sense that it will not break the interpreter.
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However,
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there is no guarantee that such code does anything sensible.
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(None can be given, because the halting problem is unsolvable.)
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If no files are given, then
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<B>luac</B>
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loads
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<B>luac.out</B>
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and tests its contents.
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No messages are displayed if the file passes the integrity test.
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<P>
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<B>-s</B>
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strip debug information before writing the output file.
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This saves some space in very large chunks,
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but if errors occur when running a stripped chunk,
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then the error messages may not contain the full information they usually do.
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For instance,
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line numbers and names of local variables are lost.
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<P>
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<B>-v</B>
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show version information.
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<H2>FILES</H2>
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<P>
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<B>luac.out</B>
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default output file
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<H2>SEE ALSO</H2>
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<B>lua</B>(1)
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<BR>
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<A HREF="http://www.lua.org/">http://www.lua.org/</A>
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<H2>DIAGNOSTICS</H2>
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Error messages should be self explanatory.
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<H2>AUTHORS</H2>
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L. H. de Figueiredo,
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R. Ierusalimschy and
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W. Celes
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<!-- EOF -->
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</HTML>
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