📋 ComEXE

The ComEXE project currently ships one program: lua55ce, a statically linked drop-in replacement for the Lua standalone program with extra command options and built-in libraries. It can turn a Lua script into a standalone executable for Windows x64 or Linux x64, with no C toolchain and no runtime to install.

lua55ce -x --make src\hello.lua --nostdlib # Windows x64, 1.4 MiB

One can also generate executables for different platforms:

lua55ce -x --make src\hello.lua -t x86_64-linux-musl # static
lua55ce -x --make src\hello.lua -t x86_64-linux-gnu  # glibc

🚀 Quick start

Download and extract the the latest binary release. For convenience, rename the lua55ce-x86_64.exe to lua55ce.exe.

Check the version

lua55ce -v

Write and execute a Lua script

> mkdir hello
> echo print("Hello World!") > hello\hello.lua
> lua55ce hello\hello.lua
Hello World!

Compile the script

> lua55ce -x --make hello\hello.lua --nostdlib
> hello.exe
Hello World!

List the available targets

> lua55ce -x --list-targets
x86_64-windows
x86_64-windows-dbg
x86_64-windows-gui
x86_64-linux-musl
x86_64-linux-musl-dbg
x86_64-linux-gnu
x86_64-linux-gnu-dbg

Compile for Linux musl:

> lua55ce -x --make hello\hello.lua --nostdlib -t x86_64-linux-musl -o hello-static

🚀 Key features

• Create standalone executables
• Native multithreading
• Built-in libffi & preprocessor
• Built-in libuv, luasocket, LPEG, dkjson
• Built-in SQLite support
• Built-in WebView2 support
• Built-in Win32 API support
• Integrated Package Manager
• Improved UTF-8 support on Windows
• MIT license

📘 Guides & Notes

• Building ComEXE from source
• Fetching JSON data over HTTP
• Using the FFI to wrap a C library
• Building a GUI with WebView2
• Using the FFI to build a Win32 GUI
• Using Easycom with Excel
• Using Fennel with ComEXE
• Differences with Lua PUC

➡️ Next

• Download binaries for Windows x86-64 and Linux x86-64