6ecc641d08
We are still using Pandoc’s Markdown parser, which differs from CommonMark spec slightly. Notably: - Line breaks in lists behave differently. - Admonitions do not support the simpler syntax https://github.com/jgm/commonmark-hs/issues/75 - The auto_identifiers uses a different algorithm – I made the previous ones explicit. - Languages (classes) of code blocks cannot contain whitespace so we have to use “pycon” alias instead of Python “console” as GitHub’s linguist While at it, I also fixed the following issues: - ShellSesssion was used - Removed some pointless docbook tags.
255 lines
9.7 KiB
Markdown
255 lines
9.7 KiB
Markdown
# User’s Guide to Lua Infrastructure {#users-guide-to-lua-infrastructure}
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## Using Lua {#using-lua}
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### Overview of Lua {#overview-of-lua}
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Several versions of the Lua interpreter are available: luajit, lua 5.1, 5.2, 5.3.
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The attribute `lua` refers to the default interpreter, it is also possible to refer to specific versions, e.g. `lua5_2` refers to Lua 5.2.
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Lua libraries are in separate sets, with one set per interpreter version.
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The interpreters have several common attributes. One of these attributes is
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`pkgs`, which is a package set of Lua libraries for this specific
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interpreter. E.g., the `busted` package corresponding to the default interpreter
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is `lua.pkgs.busted`, and the lua 5.2 version is `lua5_2.pkgs.busted`.
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The main package set contains aliases to these package sets, e.g.
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`luaPackages` refers to `lua5_1.pkgs` and `lua52Packages` to
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`lua5_2.pkgs`.
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### Installing Lua and packages {#installing-lua-and-packages}
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#### Lua environment defined in separate `.nix` file {#lua-environment-defined-in-separate-.nix-file}
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Create a file, e.g. `build.nix`, with the following expression
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```nix
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with import <nixpkgs> {};
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lua5_2.withPackages (ps: with ps; [ busted luafilesystem ])
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```
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and install it in your profile with
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```shell
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nix-env -if build.nix
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```
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Now you can use the Lua interpreter, as well as the extra packages (`busted`,
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`luafilesystem`) that you added to the environment.
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#### Lua environment defined in `~/.config/nixpkgs/config.nix` {#lua-environment-defined-in-.confignixpkgsconfig.nix}
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If you prefer to, you could also add the environment as a package override to the Nixpkgs set, e.g.
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using `config.nix`,
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```nix
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{ # ...
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packageOverrides = pkgs: with pkgs; {
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myLuaEnv = lua5_2.withPackages (ps: with ps; [ busted luafilesystem ]);
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};
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}
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```
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and install it in your profile with
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```shell
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nix-env -iA nixpkgs.myLuaEnv
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```
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The environment is installed by referring to the attribute, and considering
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the `nixpkgs` channel was used.
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#### Lua environment defined in `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix` {#lua-environment-defined-in-etcnixosconfiguration.nix}
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For the sake of completeness, here's another example how to install the environment system-wide.
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```nix
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{ # ...
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environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
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(lua.withPackages(ps: with ps; [ busted luafilesystem ]))
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];
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}
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```
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### How to override a Lua package using overlays? {#how-to-override-a-lua-package-using-overlays}
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Use the following overlay template:
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```nix
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final: prev:
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{
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lua = prev.lua.override {
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packageOverrides = luaself: luaprev: {
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luarocks-nix = luaprev.luarocks-nix.overrideAttrs(oa: {
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pname = "luarocks-nix";
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src = /home/my_luarocks/repository;
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});
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};
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luaPackages = lua.pkgs;
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}
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```
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### Temporary Lua environment with `nix-shell` {#temporary-lua-environment-with-nix-shell}
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There are two methods for loading a shell with Lua packages. The first and recommended method
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is to create an environment with `lua.buildEnv` or `lua.withPackages` and load that. E.g.
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```sh
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$ nix-shell -p 'lua.withPackages(ps: with ps; [ busted luafilesystem ])'
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```
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opens a shell from which you can launch the interpreter
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```sh
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[nix-shell:~] lua
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```
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The other method, which is not recommended, does not create an environment and requires you to list the packages directly,
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```sh
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$ nix-shell -p lua.pkgs.busted lua.pkgs.luafilesystem
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```
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Again, it is possible to launch the interpreter from the shell.
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The Lua interpreter has the attribute `pkgs` which contains all Lua libraries for that specific interpreter.
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## Developing with Lua {#developing-with-lua}
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Now that you know how to get a working Lua environment with Nix, it is time
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to go forward and start actually developing with Lua. There are two ways to
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package lua software, either it is on luarocks and most of it can be taken care
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of by the luarocks2nix converter or the packaging has to be done manually.
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Let's present the luarocks way first and the manual one in a second time.
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### Packaging a library on luarocks {#packaging-a-library-on-luarocks}
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[Luarocks.org](www.luarocks.org) is the main repository of lua packages.
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The site proposes two types of packages, the rockspec and the src.rock
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(equivalent of a [rockspec](https://github.com/luarocks/luarocks/wiki/Rockspec-format) but with the source).
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These packages can have different build types such as `cmake`, `builtin` etc .
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Luarocks-based packages are generated in pkgs/development/lua-modules/generated-packages.nix from
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the whitelist maintainers/scripts/luarocks-packages.csv and updated by running maintainers/scripts/update-luarocks-packages.
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[luarocks2nix](https://github.com/nix-community/luarocks) is a tool capable of generating nix derivations from both rockspec and src.rock (and favors the src.rock).
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The automation only goes so far though and some packages need to be customized.
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These customizations go in `pkgs/development/lua-modules/overrides.nix`.
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For instance if the rockspec defines `external_dependencies`, these need to be manually added in its rockspec file then it won't work.
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You can try converting luarocks packages to nix packages with the command `nix-shell -p luarocks-nix` and then `luarocks nix PKG_NAME`.
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Nix rely on luarocks to install lua packages, basically it runs:
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`luarocks make --deps-mode=none --tree $out`
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#### Packaging a library manually {#packaging-a-library-manually}
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You can develop your package as you usually would, just don't forget to wrap it
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within a `toLuaModule` call, for instance
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```nix
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mynewlib = toLuaModule ( stdenv.mkDerivation { ... });
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```
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There is also the `buildLuaPackage` function that can be used when lua modules
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are not packaged for luarocks. You can see a few examples at `pkgs/top-level/lua-packages.nix`.
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## Lua Reference {#lua-reference}
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### Lua interpreters {#lua-interpreters}
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Versions 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 of the lua interpreter are available as
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respectively `lua5_1`, `lua5_2` and `lua5_3`. Luajit is available too.
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The Nix expressions for the interpreters can be found in `pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5`.
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#### Attributes on lua interpreters packages {#attributes-on-lua-interpreters-packages}
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Each interpreter has the following attributes:
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- `interpreter`. Alias for `${pkgs.lua}/bin/lua`.
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- `buildEnv`. Function to build lua interpreter environments with extra packages bundled together. See section *lua.buildEnv function* for usage and documentation.
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- `withPackages`. Simpler interface to `buildEnv`.
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- `pkgs`. Set of Lua packages for that specific interpreter. The package set can be modified by overriding the interpreter and passing `packageOverrides`.
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#### `buildLuarocksPackage` function {#buildluarockspackage-function}
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The `buildLuarocksPackage` function is implemented in `pkgs/development/interpreters/lua-5/build-lua-package.nix`
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The following is an example:
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```nix
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luaposix = buildLuarocksPackage {
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pname = "luaposix";
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version = "34.0.4-1";
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src = fetchurl {
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url = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rocks-moonscript-org/moonrocks-mirror/master/luaposix-34.0.4-1.src.rock";
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sha256 = "0yrm5cn2iyd0zjd4liyj27srphvy0gjrjx572swar6zqr4dwjqp2";
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};
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disabled = (luaOlder "5.1") || (luaAtLeast "5.4");
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propagatedBuildInputs = [ bit32 lua std_normalize ];
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meta = with lib; {
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homepage = "https://github.com/luaposix/luaposix/";
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description = "Lua bindings for POSIX";
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maintainers = with maintainers; [ vyp lblasc ];
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license.fullName = "MIT/X11";
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};
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};
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```
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The `buildLuarocksPackage` delegates most tasks to luarocks:
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* it adds `luarocks` as an unpacker for `src.rock` files (zip files really).
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* configurePhase` writes a temporary luarocks configuration file which location
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is exported via the environment variable `LUAROCKS_CONFIG`.
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* the `buildPhase` does nothing.
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* `installPhase` calls `luarocks make --deps-mode=none --tree $out` to build and
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install the package
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* In the `postFixup` phase, the `wrapLuaPrograms` bash function is called to
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wrap all programs in the `$out/bin/*` directory to include `$PATH`
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environment variable and add dependent libraries to script's `LUA_PATH` and
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`LUA_CPATH`.
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By default `meta.platforms` is set to the same value as the interpreter unless overridden otherwise.
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#### `buildLuaApplication` function {#buildluaapplication-function}
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The `buildLuaApplication` function is practically the same as `buildLuaPackage`.
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The difference is that `buildLuaPackage` by default prefixes the names of the packages with the version of the interpreter.
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Because with an application we're not interested in multiple version the prefix is dropped.
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#### lua.withPackages function {#lua.withpackages-function}
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The `lua.withPackages` takes a function as an argument that is passed the set of lua packages and returns the list of packages to be included in the environment.
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Using the `withPackages` function, the previous example for the luafilesystem environment can be written like this:
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```nix
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with import <nixpkgs> {};
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lua.withPackages (ps: [ps.luafilesystem])
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```
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`withPackages` passes the correct package set for the specific interpreter version as an argument to the function. In the above example, `ps` equals `luaPackages`.
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But you can also easily switch to using `lua5_2`:
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```nix
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with import <nixpkgs> {};
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lua5_2.withPackages (ps: [ps.lua])
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```
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Now, `ps` is set to `lua52Packages`, matching the version of the interpreter.
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### Possible Todos {#possible-todos}
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* export/use version specific variables such as `LUA_PATH_5_2`/`LUAROCKS_CONFIG_5_2`
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* let luarocks check for dependencies via exporting the different rocktrees in temporary config
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### Lua Contributing guidelines {#lua-contributing-guidelines}
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Following rules should be respected:
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* Make sure libraries build for all Lua interpreters.
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* Commit names of Lua libraries should reflect that they are Lua libraries, so write for example `luaPackages.luafilesystem: 1.11 -> 1.12`.
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