Install LuaRocks with Lua 5.2 on Windows 7

Below are steps to install LuaRocks 2.1.0 with Lua 5.2 on Windows, using Visual Studio(Express):

1. Download Lua 5.2 source code

2. Build lua52.dll, and lua5.2.exe. Note:

   • Add LUA_COMPAT_ALL to C/C++ Preprocessor Definition

   • lua5.2.exe has to depends on lua52.dll, otherwise you will see errors like "multiple VMs" when using a C module

3. Copy executable files, libraries, and source code to a folder. The folder structure looks like:

    LuaFolder/
      |-bin/
      | |-lua5.2.exe
      | |-lua52.dll
      | |-luac5.2.exe(Optional?)
      |
      |-lib/
      | |-lua52.lib
      |
      |-include/
        |-Header files from Lua source code
   

4. Download and unpack LuaRocks. I am using version 2.1.0.

5. Install: install.bat /P InstallDir /LV 5.2 /LUA LuaFolder

6. Goto install dir, and edit config.lua. Change value of variables.LUALIB from lua52.dll to lua52.lib.

7. Add PATH, LUA_PATH and LUA_CPATH to system env, according to the output of install.bat

8. Additional paths:

    PATH      : %LuaRocksDir%/bin
    LUA_CPATH : %LuaRocksDir%/lib\lua\5.2
   

Done!

To install a Lua module using LuaRocks, you have to open a command line window with Visual Studio environment, then enjoy luarocks install xxx!