VSI-AXPVMS-LUA-V0503-5A-1-RNOTES.PDF

This document describes the August 2020 port of Lua 5.3.5 for OpenVMS I64 and Alpha, developed by VMS Software. Lua is highlighted as a powerful, fast, lightweight, and embeddable scripting language ideal for configuration, scripting, and rapid prototyping due to its features like dynamic typing, bytecode interpretation, and automatic memory management.

The OpenVMS port specifically includes the core Lua distribution, a pure Lua JSON library, and OpenVMS-specific extensions to interact with system services and RTL routines. Key requirements for installation are OpenVMS 8.4-1H1 (or higher), an ODS-5 enabled disk, and an optional TCP/IP stack for network operations.

Installation is performed using an OpenVMS PCSI kit, followed by critical post-installation steps that involve adding startup/shutdown scripts to define system-wide logical names and foreign commands for the Lua interpreter and bytecode compiler. The document also guides developers on linking their own dynamic modules. Finally, the kit bundles several additional Lua modules, including LuaFileSystem, JSON, Lua-zip, fifo, binaryheap, basex, and LuaSocket, alongside the OpenVMS-specific extensions.