path: root/README.md

# mlua
[![Build Status]][github-actions] [![Latest Version]][crates.io] [![API Documentation]][docs.rs] [![Coverage Status]][codecov.io] ![MSRV]

[Build Status]: https://github.com/khvzak/mlua/workflows/CI/badge.svg
[github-actions]: https://github.com/khvzak/mlua/actions
[Latest Version]: https://img.shields.io/crates/v/mlua.svg
[crates.io]: https://crates.io/crates/mlua
[API Documentation]: https://docs.rs/mlua/badge.svg
[docs.rs]: https://docs.rs/mlua
[Coverage Status]: https://codecov.io/gh/khvzak/mlua/branch/master/graph/badge.svg?token=99339FS1CG
[codecov.io]: https://codecov.io/gh/khvzak/mlua
[MSRV]: https://img.shields.io/badge/rust-1.71+-brightgreen.svg?&logo=rust

[Guided Tour] | [Benchmarks] | [FAQ]

[Guided Tour]: examples/guided_tour.rs
[Benchmarks]: https://github.com/khvzak/script-bench-rs
[FAQ]: FAQ.md

> **Note**
>
> Please see the [v0.8](https://github.com/khvzak/mlua/tree/v0.8) branch for the stable versions of `mlua` released to crates.io.
>
> v0.9 release notes can be found [here](https://github.com/khvzak/mlua/blob/master/docs/release_notes/v0.9.md).

`mlua` is bindings to [Lua](https://www.lua.org) programming language for Rust with a goal to provide
_safe_ (as far as it's possible), high level, easy to use, practical and flexible API.

Started as `rlua` fork, `mlua` supports Lua 5.4, 5.3, 5.2, 5.1 (including LuaJIT) and [Roblox Luau] and allows to write native Lua modules in Rust as well as use Lua in a standalone mode.

`mlua` tested on Windows/macOS/Linux including module mode in [GitHub Actions] on `x86_64` platform and cross-compilation to `aarch64` (other targets are also supported).

[GitHub Actions]: https://github.com/khvzak/mlua/actions
[Roblox Luau]: https://luau-lang.org

## Usage

### Feature flags

`mlua` uses feature flags to reduce the amount of dependencies, compiled code and allow to choose only required set of features.
Below is a list of the available feature flags. By default `mlua` does not enable any features.

* `lua54`: activate Lua [5.4] support
* `lua53`: activate Lua [5.3] support
* `lua52`: activate Lua [5.2] support
* `lua51`: activate Lua [5.1] support
* `luajit`: activate [LuaJIT] support
* `luajit52`: activate [LuaJIT] support with partial compatibility with Lua 5.2
* `luau`: activate [Luau] support (auto vendored mode)
* `luau-jit`: activate [Luau] support with experimental JIT backend.
* `luau-vector4`: activate [Luau] support with 4-dimensional vector.
* `vendored`: build static Lua(JIT) library from sources during `mlua` compilation using [lua-src] or [luajit-src] crates
* `module`: enable module mode (building loadable `cdylib` library for Lua)
* `async`: enable async/await support (any executor can be used, eg. [tokio] or [async-std])
* `send`: make `mlua::Lua` transferable across thread boundaries (adds [`Send`] requirement to `mlua::Function` and `mlua::UserData`)
* `serialize`: add serialization and deserialization support to `mlua` types using [serde] framework
* `macros`: enable procedural macros (such as `chunk!`)
* `parking_lot`: support UserData types wrapped in [parking_lot]'s primitives (`Arc<Mutex>` and `Arc<RwLock>`)
* `unstable`: enable **unstable** features. The public API of these features may break between releases.

[5.4]: https://www.lua.org/manual/5.4/manual.html
[5.3]: https://www.lua.org/manual/5.3/manual.html
[5.2]: https://www.lua.org/manual/5.2/manual.html
[5.1]: https://www.lua.org/manual/5.1/manual.html
[LuaJIT]: https://luajit.org/
[Luau]: https://github.com/Roblox/luau
[lua-src]: https://github.com/khvzak/lua-src-rs
[luajit-src]: https://github.com/khvzak/luajit-src-rs
[tokio]: https://github.com/tokio-rs/tokio
[async-std]: https://github.com/async-rs/async-std
[`Send`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/marker/trait.Send.html
[serde]: https://github.com/serde-rs/serde
[parking_lot]: https://github.com/Amanieu/parking_lot

### Async/await support

`mlua` supports async/await for all Lua versions including Luau.

This works using Lua [coroutines](https://www.lua.org/manual/5.3/manual.html#2.6) and require running [Thread](https://docs.rs/mlua/latest/mlua/struct.Thread.html) along with enabling `feature = "async"` in `Cargo.toml`.

**Examples**:
- [HTTP Client](examples/async_http_client.rs)
- [HTTP Client (json)](examples/async_http_reqwest.rs)
- [HTTP Server](examples/async_http_server.rs)
- [TCP Server](examples/async_tcp_server.rs)

### Serialization (serde) support

With `serialize` feature flag enabled, `mlua` allows you to serialize/deserialize any type that implements [`serde::Serialize`] and [`serde::Deserialize`] into/from [`mlua::Value`]. In addition `mlua` provides [`serde::Serialize`] trait implementation for it (including `UserData` support).

[Example](examples/serialize.rs)

[`serde::Serialize`]: https://docs.serde.rs/serde/ser/trait.Serialize.html
[`serde::Deserialize`]: https://docs.serde.rs/serde/de/trait.Deserialize.html
[`mlua::Value`]: https://docs.rs/mlua/latest/mlua/enum.Value.html

### Compiling

You have to enable one of the features: `lua54`, `lua53`, `lua52`, `lua51`, `luajit(52)` or `luau`, according to the chosen Lua version.

By default `mlua` uses `pkg-config` tool to find lua includes and libraries for the chosen Lua version.
In most cases it works as desired, although sometimes could be more preferable to use a custom lua library.
To achieve this, mlua supports `LUA_LIB`, `LUA_LIB_NAME` and `LUA_LINK` environment variables.
`LUA_LINK` is optional and may be `dylib` (a dynamic library) or `static` (a static library, `.a` archive).

An example how to use them:
``` sh
my_project $ LUA_LIB=$HOME/tmp/lua-5.2.4/src LUA_LIB_NAME=lua LUA_LINK=static cargo build
```

`mlua` also supports vendored lua/luajit using the auxiliary crates [lua-src](https://crates.io/crates/lua-src) and
[luajit-src](https://crates.io/crates/luajit-src).
Just enable the `vendored` feature and cargo will automatically build and link specified lua/luajit version. This is the easiest way to get started with `mlua`.

### Standalone mode
In a standalone mode `mlua` allows to add to your application scripting support with a gently configured Lua runtime to ensure  safety and soundness.

Add to `Cargo.toml` :

``` toml
[dependencies]
mlua = { version = "0.9.0-rc.3", features = ["lua54", "vendored"] }
```

`main.rs`

``` rust
use mlua::prelude::*;

fn main() -> LuaResult<()> {
    let lua = Lua::new();

    let map_table = lua.create_table()?;
    map_table.set(1, "one")?;
    map_table.set("two", 2)?;

    lua.globals().set("map_table", map_table)?;

    lua.load("for k,v in pairs(map_table) do print(k,v) end").exec()?;

    Ok(())
}
```

### Module mode
In a module mode `mlua` allows to create a compiled Lua module that can be loaded from Lua code using [`require`](https://www.lua.org/manual/5.4/manual.html#pdf-require). In this case `mlua` uses an external Lua runtime which could lead to potential unsafety due to unpredictability of the Lua environment and usage of libraries such as [`debug`](https://www.lua.org/manual/5.4/manual.html#6.10).

[Example](examples/module)

Add to `Cargo.toml` :

``` toml
[lib]
crate-type = ["cdylib"]

[dependencies]
mlua = { version = "0.9.0-rc.3", features = ["lua54", "vendored", "module"] }
```

`lib.rs` :

``` rust
use mlua::prelude::*;

fn hello(_: &Lua, name: String) -> LuaResult<()> {
    println!("hello, {}!", name);
    Ok(())
}

#[mlua::lua_module]
fn my_module(lua: &Lua) -> LuaResult<LuaTable> {
    let exports = lua.create_table()?;
    exports.set("hello", lua.create_function(hello)?)?;
    Ok(exports)
}
```

And then (**macOS** example):

``` sh
$ cargo rustc -- -C link-arg=-undefined -C link-arg=dynamic_lookup
$ ln -s ./target/debug/libmy_module.dylib ./my_module.so
$ lua5.4 -e 'require("my_module").hello("world")'
hello, world!
```

On macOS, you need to set additional linker arguments. One option is to compile with `cargo rustc --release -- -C link-arg=-undefined -C link-arg=dynamic_lookup`, the other is to create a `.cargo/config` with the following content:
``` toml
[target.x86_64-apple-darwin]
rustflags = [
  "-C", "link-arg=-undefined",
  "-C", "link-arg=dynamic_lookup",
]

[target.aarch64-apple-darwin]
rustflags = [
  "-C", "link-arg=-undefined",
  "-C", "link-arg=dynamic_lookup",
]
```
On Linux you can build modules normally with `cargo build --release`.

On Windows the target module will be linked with `lua5x.dll` library (depending on your feature flags).
Your main application should provide this library.

Module builds don't require Lua lib or headers to be installed on the system.

### Publishing to luarocks.org

There is a LuaRocks build backend for mlua modules [`luarocks-build-rust-mlua`].

Modules written in Rust and published to luarocks:
- [`lua-ryaml`](https://github.com/khvzak/lua-ryaml)

[`luarocks-build-rust-mlua`]: https://luarocks.org/modules/khvzak/luarocks-build-rust-mlua

## Safety

One of the `mlua` goals is to provide *safe* API between Rust and Lua.
Every place where the Lua C API may trigger an error longjmp in any way is protected by `lua_pcall`,
and the user of the library is protected from directly interacting with unsafe things like the Lua stack,
and there is overhead associated with this safety.

Unfortunately, `mlua` does not provide absolute safety even without using `unsafe` .
This library contains a huge amount of unsafe code. There are almost certainly bugs still lurking in this library!
It is surprisingly, fiendishly difficult to use the Lua C API without the potential for unsafety.

## Panic handling

`mlua` wraps panics that are generated inside Rust callbacks in a regular Lua error. Panics could be
resumed then by returning or propagating the Lua error to Rust code.

For example:
``` rust
let lua = Lua::new();
let f = lua.create_function(|_, ()| -> LuaResult<()> {
    panic!("test panic");
})?;
lua.globals().set("rust_func", f)?;

let _ = lua.load(r#"
    local status, err = pcall(rust_func)
    print(err) -- prints: test panic
    error(err) -- propagate panic
"#).exec();

unreachable!()
```

Optionally `mlua` can disable Rust panics catching in Lua via `pcall`/`xpcall` and automatically resume
them across the Lua API boundary. This is controlled via `LuaOptions` and done by wrapping the Lua `pcall`/`xpcall`
functions on a way to prevent catching errors that are wrapped Rust panics.

`mlua` should also be panic safe in another way as well, which is that any `Lua` instances or handles
remains usable after a user generated panic, and such panics should not break internal invariants or
leak Lua stack space. This is mostly important to safely use `mlua` types in Drop impls, as you should not be
using panics for general error handling.

Below is a list of `mlua` behaviors that should be considered a bug.
If you encounter them, a bug report would be very welcome:

  + If you can cause UB with `mlua` without typing the word "unsafe", this is a bug.

  + If your program panics with a message that contains the string "mlua internal error", this is a bug.

  + Lua C API errors are handled by longjmp. All instances where the Lua C API would otherwise longjmp over calling stack frames should be guarded against, except in internal callbacks where this is intentional. If you detect that `mlua` is triggering a longjmp over your Rust stack frames, this is a bug!

  + If you detect that, after catching a panic or during a Drop triggered from a panic, a `Lua` or handle method is triggering other bugs or there is a Lua stack space leak, this is a bug. `mlua` instances are supposed to remain fully usable in the face of user generated panics. This guarantee does not extend to panics marked with "mlua internal error" simply because that is already indicative of a separate bug.

## Sandboxing

Please check the [Luau Sandboxing] page if you are interested in running untrusted Lua scripts in controlled environment.

`mlua` provides `Lua::sandbox` method for enabling sandbox mode (Luau only).

[Luau Sandboxing]: https://luau-lang.org/sandbox

## License

This project is licensed under the [MIT license](LICENSE)