diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'src/lua/doc/luac.1')
| -rw-r--r-- | src/lua/doc/luac.1 | 118 |
1 files changed, 118 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/src/lua/doc/luac.1 b/src/lua/doc/luac.1 new file mode 100644 index 00000000..33a4ed00 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/lua/doc/luac.1 @@ -0,0 +1,118 @@ +.\" $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 |