luarocks
LuaRocks is the package manager for the Lua programming language.
The official package manager for Lua that lets you install and manage Lua libraries with a single command, similar to pip for Python or npm for JavaScript.
LuaRocks is the official package manager for Lua, a lightweight programming language commonly used for scripting inside games (including Roblox), for embedding in applications, and for high-performance server-side work. A package manager is a tool that lets you install, update, and manage libraries written by others so you do not have to track down and install them by hand.
In LuaRocks, each installable unit is called a rock. A rock is a self-contained package that bundles a Lua module together with the information needed to install it correctly, including any dependencies. You can install rocks from the central public registry at luarocks.org, from other remote repositories, or from a local directory.
LuaRocks also supports multiple local trees, which means you can maintain separate sets of installed packages for different projects on the same machine without them interfering with each other. This is similar to virtual environments in Python or local node_modules folders in JavaScript projects.
The README for this repository is very brief and does not describe the command-line interface, configuration options, or how to create and publish your own rocks. Full documentation and a searchable registry of available packages are available at luarocks.org.
LuaRocks is free and open source, released under the MIT license, the same license that covers Lua itself.
Where it fits
- Install a Lua library from the public luarocks.org registry with a single command instead of downloading and configuring it by hand.
- Set up separate package trees for different Lua projects on the same machine so their dependencies do not conflict.
- Package your own Lua module as a rock and publish it to the public registry for others to install.