Re: best approach for scripting on Intel Mac OS X?

["Ken Smith" <kgsmith@...>]

On 12/25/06, Michael Manti <statboy3000@gmail.com> wrote:
> problem, but the library support is rather spartan. I've downloaded source
> distributions for LuaCheia and LuaX, but I quickly ran into problems
> compiling them. (Is LuaCheia still active, btw?)
>
> Is anyone out there using Lua as a standalone scripting language on Intel
> Mac OS X? If so, would you be willing to share tips on how to set up a
> workable system for doing so?

I sometimes use Lua on Mac OS X in this way but I don't use LuaCheia
or LuaX so I can't offer advice on those fronts.

I build Lua from source and use a tool an ex-colleague of mine wrote
called encapper to manage the packaging.

 http://frotz.net/swetland/code/encapper.c

I'm using LuaSocket and bitlib, both of which I install via encapper
into /usr/local/share/lua/5.1 (*.lua) and /usr/local/lib/lua/5.1
(*.so).

I guess all that is relatively standard.  I also have clients who are
using Lua now thanks to one developer's encouragement (eh, hem) and
they go into the same directories via the same mechanisms.

That being said, when I need a standalone language, Lua is not always
my first choice.  In fact, when I need to do something where there is
not a significant native C component, I tend to reach first for
Python.  With Python, batteries are included (tm) and it has lots of
Unixy functionality that I generally want when I'm writing standalone
scripts.

 Ken