luasocket

A luasocket module that works on Windows with lua 5.3 and 5.4 (select the appropriate package in releases)

So far, so good, but when you work under Windows it becomes really difficult to get the binaries for this luasocket module, as it is C based:

• I need the module under Windows
• I need it in Win32 and also x64 release
• I have Visual Studio 2017 Community Edition

I searched and searched, stumbled on LuaRocks - The Lua package manager, but never made it to correctly get this module, in the right release, compiled with Visual Studio...

A building solution of mine

So I patched together all the information I managed to get accross the net and I created this procedure. After many tries with luarocks, I realized that the sources of the luasocket module where correctly downloaded, but not built at all.

• with 7-zip, unzip of the file "luasocket-3.0rc1-2.src.rock", precisely, the path "luasocket-3.0rc1-2.src.rock\v3.0-rc1.zip\luasocket-3.0-rc1"
• copy of "Lua53.props" to "Lua.props"
• update of the paths in the projects to match the correct options for Visual Studio 2017
• the type lua library linked with the luasocket module must be configured in the "Lua.props" file

  <PropertyGroup Label="UserMacros">
...
	  <!-- For dynamic or static lua library linking -->
	  <!-- Uncomment one of those 2 lines -->
    <!-- <LUALIB>lua53.lib</LUALIB> -->
    <LUALIB>lua53-static.lib</LUALIB>
  </PropertyGroup>

• you can choose to make it (personaly I prefer static, as it avoids the hassle of managing the lua libraries path):
  • dynamic, and in this case, the "lua53.dll" must be findable somewhere in the PATH of the application using the "luasocket" module
  • static, and then the "luasocket" module is self sufficient, no other DLLs are needed
• the build structure has been re-arranged to include the build target architecture in the build path, with Win32 or x64 possibilities
• the "lua" binaries and includes paths must be configured correctly in "Lua.props", for example here, with a relative path:

  <PropertyGroup Label="UserMacros">
    <LUA_PATH>..\..\lua\sources\lua53\</LUA_PATH>
...
  </PropertyGroup>

• finally, open "luasocket.sln" solution in "Visual Studio 2017"
• choose the type of build (I suggest "Release") and the desired architecture (among "Win32" or "x64")
• rebuild the solution. The binaries and lua scripts for the "luasocket" module are available under either: luasocket\Release\Win32 or luasocket\Release\x64

Modifications made to original luasocket

The original "luasocket" module code didn't build out of the box in "Visual Studio 2017", I had to make several modifications:

• for both projects "socket" and "mime", in their "Properties"
  • tab "C/C++", "General"
  • modify "$(LUAINC_PATH)" to "$(LUA_PATH)$(Platform)\include" in "Additional Include Directories"
  • tab "C/C++", "Command Line"
  • add "/FS" in "Additional Options"
  • tab "Linker", "General"
  • modify "$(OutDir)$(TargetName).dll" to "$(Configuration)$(Platform)$(ProjectName)$(TargetName).dll" in "Output File"
  • modify "$(LUALIB_PATH)" to "$(LUA_PATH)$(Platform)\lib" in "Additional Library Directories"
• for all the ".lua" files present in the directories "cdir" and "ldir" of each project
• right clic on "Properties", for the "cdir"
  • tab "Custom Build Tool", "General"
  • modify "Command Line" to:

copy %(FullPath) $(Configuration)\$(Platform)\

• modify "Outputs" to "$(Configuration)$(Platform)%(Filename)%(Extension)"
• right clic on "Properties", for the "ldir"
  • tab "Custom Build Tool", "General"
  • modify "Command Line" to:

copy %(FullPath) $(Configuration)\$(Platform)\$(ProjectName)\

• modify "Outputs" to "$(Configuration)$(Platform)$(ProjectName)%(Filename)%(Extension)"

The C source code of the "luasocket" module was also not lua 5.3 ready, I did following modifications to ensure lua 5.3 compatibility:

• added this piece of code at the beginning of those 2 source files "luasocket.c" and "mime.c"

/*=========================================================================*\
* ARi - Needed for lua 5.3 compatibility
\*=========================================================================*/
#ifndef luaL_checkint
#define luaL_checkint(L, n) ((int)luaL_checkinteger(L,n))
#endif