jirutka/luapak: Easily build a standalone executable for any Lua p...

= Luapak Jakub Jirutka https://github.com/jirutka[@jirutka] :toc: macro :toc-title: // custom :proj-name: luapak :gh-name: jirutka/{proj-name} :gh-branch: master :appveyor-id: qmkkk86ldwvkvdc9 :ldoc-url: https://jirutka.github.io/{proj-name}/ldoc/

ifdef::env-github[] image:https://travis-ci.org/{gh-name}.svg?branch={gh-branch}["Build Status", link="https://travis-ci.org/{gh-name}"] image:https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/{appveyor-id}/branch/{gh-branch}?svg=true["Windows Build Status", link="https://ci.appveyor.com/project/{gh-name}"] image:https://img.shields.io/badge/ldoc-docs-blue.svg["LDoc", link="{ldoc-url}"] endif::env-github[]

Luapak is a command-line tool that offers complete, multi-platform (Linux, macOS, and Windows), adjustable, all-in-one (yet modular) solution for building a standalone, zero-dependencies, possibly statically linked (only on Linux) executable for (almost) any Lua program. It Just Works!

. Resolves, builds and installs project’s Lua dependencies (declared in rockspec) from https://luarocks.org/[LuaRocks]. Lua/C modules (aka native extensions) are built as static libraries (.a archive files), so they can be statically linked into resulting executable.footnote:[Luapak includes LuaRocks package manager with rewritten https://github.com/luarocks/luarocks/wiki/Rockspec-format#builtin[builtin build backend] and modified settings to build Lua/C modules as static libraries. Other backends (make, cmake, …) are not supported in the sense that Luapak cannot alter build process to produce static libraries; it’s up to the user to ensure that.] . Resolves actually __require__d Lua and Lua/C modules (.lua and .a files) using static code analysis of the project and its dependencies (recursively). . Merges all required Lua modules into a single Lua script. . Minifies the Lua script (i.e. removes unnecessary characters to shrink its size) using https://github.com/jirutka/luasrcdiet[LuaSrcDiet]. . Compresses the Lua script using https://github.com/jibsen/brieflz[BriefLZ] algorithm. . Embeds the Lua script into a generated C wrapper. . Compiles the C wrapper and links it with Lua interpreter (PUC Lua 5.1–5.3 and LuaJIT supported) and Lua/C libraries (aka native extensions) into a standalone executable.

All these steps can be run with single command luapak make <rockspec>, or separately if you need more control. You can discover available commands and their options in section <<Commands>>.

[discrete] == Table of Contents

toc::[]

== Commands

=== luapak make

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Usage: luapak make [options] [PACKAGE...]
       luapak make --help
Makes a standalone executable from Lua package(s). This is the main Luapak
command that handles entire process from installing dependencies to
compiling executable.

Arguments: PACKAGE Lua package to build specified as <source-dir>:<rockspec>. :<rockspec> may be omitted if the <source-dir> or <source-dir>/rockspec(s) contains single rockspec, or multiple rockspecs for the same package (i.e. with different version). In the further case rockspec with the highest version is used. <source-dir>: may be omitted if the <rockspec> is in the project's source directory or rockspec(s) subdirectory. If no argument is given, the current directory is used as <source-dir>.

Options: -s, --entry-script=FILE The entry point of your program, i.e. the main Lua script. If not specified and the last PACKAGE defines exactly one CLI script, then it's used.

-e, --exclude-modules=PATTERNS Module(s) to exclude from dependencies analysis and the generated binary. PATTERNS is one or more glob patterns matching module name in dot notation (e.g. "pl.*"). Patterns may be delimited by comma or space. This option can be also specified multiple times.

-g, --debug Enable debug mode, i.e. preserve line numbers, module names and local variable names for error messages and backtraces.

-i, --include-modules=PATTERNS Extra module(s) to include in dependencies analysis and add to the generated binary. PATTERNS has the same format as in "--exclude-module".

  --lua-impl=NAME             The Lua implementation that should be used - "PUC" (default),
                              or "LuaJIT". This is currently used only as a hint to find the
                              correct library and headers when auto-detection is used
                              (i.e. --lua-incdir or --lua-lib is not specified).

  --lua-incdir=DIR            The directory that contains Lua (or LuaJIT) headers. If not
                              specified, luapak will look for the lua.h (and luajit.h) file
                              inside: Luarock's LUA_INCDIR, ./vendor/lua, ./deps/lua,
                              /usr/local/include, and /usr/include. If --lua-version is
                              specified, then it will also try subdirectories lua&lt;version&gt; and
                              lua-&lt;version&gt; of each of the named directories and verify that
                              the found lua.h (or luajit.h) is for the specified Lua
                              (or LuaJIT) version.

  --lua-lib=FILE              The library of Lua interpreter to include in the binary. If not
                              specified, luapak will try to find library with version
                              corresponding to the headers inside Luarock's LUA_LIBDIR,
                              ./vendor/lua, ./deps/lua, /usr/local/lib, /usr/local/lib64,
                              /usr/lib, and /usr/lib64.

  --lua-version=VERSION       The version number of Lua (or LuaJIT) headers and library to try
                              to find (e.g. "5.3", "2.0").

-o, --output=FILE Output file name or path. Defaults to base name of the main script with stripped .lua extension.

-C, --no-compress Disable BriefLZ compression of Lua sources.

-M, --no-minify Disable minification of Lua sources.

-t, --rocks-tree=DIR The prefix where to install required modules. Default is ".luapak" in the current directory. -q, --quiet Be quiet, i.e. print only errors.

-v, --verbose Be verbose, i.e. print debug messages.

-h, --help Display this help message and exit.

Environment Variables: AR Archive-maintaining program; default is "ar". CC Command for compiling C; default is "gcc". CMAKE Command for processing CMakeLists.txt files; default is "cmake". CFLAGS Extra flags to give to the C compiler; default is "-Os -fPIC". LD Command for linking object files and archive files; default is "ld". LDFLAGS Extra flags to give to compiler when they are supposed to invoke the linker; default on macOS is "-pagezero_size 10000 -image_base 100000000". MAKE Command for executing Makefile; default is "make". RANLIB Command for generating index to the contents of an archive; default is "ranlib". STRIP Command for discarding symbols from an object file; default is "strip".

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=== luapak analyse-deps

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Usage: luapak analyse-deps [-a|-f|-m|-g] [options] FILE...
       luapak analyse-deps --help
Analyses dependency graph of Lua module(s) using static code analysis (looks
for "require" expressions).

Arguments: FILE The entry point(s); path(s) to Lua script(s) to analyse.

Options: -a, --all Print all information (default). -f, --found Print only found modules. -m, --missing Print only missing modules. -g, --ignored Print only excluded/ignored modules.

-e, --excludes=PATTERNS Module(s) to exclude from the dependencies analysis. PATTERNS is one or more glob patterns matching module name in dot notation (e.g. "pl.*"). Patterns may be delimited by comma or space. This option can be also specified multiple times.

-n, --ignore-errors Ignore errors from dependencies resolution (like unredable or unparseable files).

-P, --no-pcalls Do not analyse pcall requires.

-W, --no-wildcards Do not expand "wildcard" requires.

-p, --pkg-path=PATH The path pattern where to search for Lua and C/Lua modules instead of the default path.

-v, --verbose Be verbose, i.e. print debug messages.

-h, --help Display this help message and exit.

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=== luapak build-rock

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Usage: luapak build-rock [options] ROCKSPEC...
       luapak build-rock --help
Builds Lua/C module as a library archive suitable for static linking
and installs it into rocks tree.

Arguments: ROCKSPEC Path of the rockspec file to build and install.

Options: -C, --directory=DIR Change directory before doing anything.

-i, --lua-impl=NAME The Lua implementation that should be used - "PUC" (default), or "LuaJIT". This is currently used only as a hint to find the correct headers when auto-detection is used (i.e. --lua-incdir unspecified).

-I, --lua-incdir=DIR The directory that contains Lua (or LuaJIT) headers. If not specified, luapak will look for the lua.h (and luajit.h) file inside: Luarock's LUA_INCDIR, ./vendor/lua, ./deps/lua, /usr/local/include, and /usr/include. If --lua-version is specified, then it will also try subdirectories lua<version> and lua-<version> of each of the named directories and verify that the found lua.h (or luajit.h) is for the specified Lua (or LuaJIT) version.

-l, --lua-version=VERSION The version number of Lua (or LuaJIT) headers and library to try to find (e.g. "5.3", "2.0").

-t, --rocks-tree=DIR The prefix where to install Lua/C modules Default is ".luapak" in the current directory.

-v, --verbose Be verbose, i.e. print debug messages.

-h, --help Display this help message and exit.

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=== luapak merge

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Usage: luapak merge [options] MODULE... luapak merge --help

Combines multiple Lua modules into a single file. Each module is be wrapped in a function, or string loaded by "load" (--debug), and assigned to "package.preload" table.

Arguments: MODULE Name and path of Lua module delimited with "=" (e.g. "luapak.utils=luapak/utils.lua") or just path of module.

Options: -g, --debug Preserve module names and line numbers in error backtraces? -o, --output=FILE Where to write the generated code. Use "-" for stdout. Default is "-". -v, --verbose Be verbose, i.e. print debug messages. -h, --help Display this help message and exit.

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=== luapak minify

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Usage: luapak minify [options] [FILE] luapak minify --help

Minifies Lua source code - removes comments, unnecessary white spaces and empty lines, shortens numbers and names of local variables.

Arguments: FILE Path of the Lua source file, or "-" for stdin.

Options: -l, --keep-lno Do not affect line numbers. -n, --keep-names Do not rename local variables. -o, --output=FILE Where to write the output. Use "-" for stdout. Default is "-". -v, --verbose Be verbose, i.e. print debug messages. -h, --help Display this help message and exit.

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=== luapak wrapper

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Usage: luapak wrapper [options] FILE [MODULE_NAME...] luapak wrapper --help

Wraps Lua script into a generated C file that can be compiled and linked with Lua interpreter and Lua/C native extensions into a standalone executable.

Arguments: FILE The Lua file to embed into the wrapper. MODULE_NAME Name of native module to preload (e.g. "cjson").

Options: -C, --no-compress Do not compress FILE using BriefLZ algorithm. -o, --output=FILE Where to write the generated code; "-" for stdout. Default is "-". -v, --verbose Be verbose, i.e. print debug messages. -h, --help Display this help message and exit.

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== What Luapak Is Not?

Luapak is not a transpiler from Lua to C, nor compiler to a native code. It does not save you from runtime errors in your Lua code, nor increase its performance.

== Installation

Note: If you want to bootstrap development environment for running tests, read the next section.

=== Using LuaRocks

You can install {proj-name} using https://luarocks.org[LuaRocks] (the Lua package manager):

[source, subs="+attributes"] luarocks install {proj-name}

or to get the latest development version:

[source, subs="+attributes"] luarocks install --server=http://luarocks.org/dev {proj-name}

=== Download Standalone Binary

You can also download standalone Luapak binaries for Linux, macOS and Windows from https://github.com/{gh-name}/releases/[Releases].

Note: Linux binaries are statically linked with http://www.musl-libc.org/[musl libc], so they should work on any Linux system.

== Set Up Development Environment

. Clone this repository: [source, subs="+attributes"] git clone https://github.com/{gh-name}.git cd {proj-name}

. Source file .envrc into your shell (or manually add $(pwd)/.venv/bin to your PATH): [source] source .envrc

. Install Lua and modules for running tests into directory .venv: [source] ./script/bootstrap

. Start hacking!

. Run linters: [source] ./script/test

== TODO

Write documentation into README.
Write integration tests.
Analyse usage of Lua standard modules and exclude unused from the binary.

== Similar Projects

Luapak is not the first tool for packing Lua code into standalone executable, but it’s the most complete. Here’s a list of similar projects I know about, some of them served as an inspiration for Luapak.

https://github.com/ers35/luastatic[luastatic] by Eric R. Schulz
https://github.com/siffiejoe/lua-amalg[Amalg] by Philipp Janda
http://matthewwild.co.uk/projects/squish/home[Squish] by Matthew Wild

== License

This project is licensed under http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT/[MIT License]. For the full text of the license, see the link:LICENSE[LICENSE] file.

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