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- <a href="http://luajit.org"><span>Lua<span id="logo">JIT</span></span></a>
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- <h1>Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)</h1>
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- <ul><li>
- <a href="luajit.html">LuaJIT</a>
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- <a href="http://luajit.org/download.html">Download <span class="ext">»</span></a>
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- <dl>
- <dt>Q: Where can I learn more about LuaJIT and Lua?</dt>
- <dd>
- <ul style="padding: 0;">
- <li>The <a href="http://luajit.org/list.html"><span class="ext">»</span> LuaJIT mailing list</a> focuses on topics
- related to LuaJIT.</li>
- <li>The <a href="http://wiki.luajit.org/"><span class="ext">»</span> LuaJIT wiki</a> gathers community
- resources about LuaJIT.</li>
- <li>News about Lua itself can be found at the
- <a href="http://www.lua.org/lua-l.html"><span class="ext">»</span> Lua mailing list</a>.
- The mailing list archives are worth checking out for older postings
- about LuaJIT.</li>
- <li>The <a href="http://lua.org"><span class="ext">»</span> main Lua.org site</a> has complete
- <a href="http://www.lua.org/docs.html"><span class="ext">»</span> documentation</a> of the language
- and links to books and papers about Lua.</li>
- <li>The community-managed <a href="http://lua-users.org/wiki/"><span class="ext">»</span> Lua Wiki</a>
- has information about diverse topics.</li>
- </ul>
- </dl>
- <dl>
- <dt>Q: Where can I learn more about the compiler technology used by LuaJIT?</dt>
- <dd>
- I'm planning to write more documentation about the internals of LuaJIT.
- In the meantime, please use the following Google Scholar searches
- to find relevant papers:<br>
- Search for: <a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Trace+Compiler"><span class="ext">»</span> Trace Compiler</a><br>
- Search for: <a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=JIT+Compiler"><span class="ext">»</span> JIT Compiler</a><br>
- Search for: <a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Dynamic+Language+Optimizations"><span class="ext">»</span> Dynamic Language Optimizations</a><br>
- Search for: <a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=SSA+Form"><span class="ext">»</span> SSA Form</a><br>
- Search for: <a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Linear+Scan+Register+Allocation"><span class="ext">»</span> Linear Scan Register Allocation</a><br>
- Here is a list of the <a href="http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lang.lua.general/58908"><span class="ext">»</span> innovative features in LuaJIT</a>.<br>
- And, you know, reading the source is of course the only way to enlightenment. :-)
- </dd>
- </dl>
- <dl>
- <dt>Q: Why do I get this error: "attempt to index global 'arg' (a nil value)"?<br>
- Q: My vararg functions fail after switching to LuaJIT!</dt>
- <dd>LuaJIT is compatible to the Lua 5.1 language standard. It doesn't
- support the implicit <tt>arg</tt> parameter for old-style vararg
- functions from Lua 5.0.<br>Please convert your code to the
- <a href="http://www.lua.org/manual/5.1/manual.html#2.5.9"><span class="ext">»</span> Lua 5.1
- vararg syntax</a>.</dd>
- </dl>
- <dl>
- <dt>Q: Why do I get this error: "bad FPU precision"?<br>
- <dt>Q: I get weird behavior after initializing Direct3D.<br>
- <dt>Q: Some FPU operations crash after I load a Delphi DLL.<br>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- DirectX/Direct3D (up to version 9) sets the x87 FPU to single-precision
- mode by default. This violates the Windows ABI and interferes with the
- operation of many programs — LuaJIT is affected, too. Please make
- sure you always use the <tt>D3DCREATE_FPU_PRESERVE</tt> flag when
- initializing Direct3D.<br>
- Direct3D version 10 or higher do not show this behavior anymore.
- Consider testing your application with older versions, too.<br>
- Similarly, the Borland/Delphi runtime modifies the FPU control word and
- enables FP exceptions. Of course this violates the Windows ABI, too.
- Please check the Delphi docs for the Set8087CW method.
- </dl>
- <dl>
- <dt>Q: Sometimes Ctrl-C fails to stop my Lua program. Why?</dt>
- <dd>The interrupt signal handler sets a Lua debug hook. But this is
- currently ignored by compiled code (this will eventually be fixed). If
- your program is running in a tight loop and never falls back to the
- interpreter, the debug hook never runs and can't throw the
- "interrupted!" error.<br> In the meantime you have to press Ctrl-C
- twice to get stop your program. That's similar to when it's stuck
- running inside a C function under the Lua interpreter.</dd>
- </dl>
- <dl>
- <dt>Q: Why doesn't my favorite power-patch for Lua apply against LuaJIT?</dt>
- <dd>Because it's a completely redesigned VM and has very little code
- in common with Lua anymore. Also, if the patch introduces changes to
- the Lua semantics, these would need to be reflected everywhere in the
- VM, from the interpreter up to all stages of the compiler.<br> Please
- use only standard Lua language constructs. For many common needs you
- can use source transformations or use wrapper or proxy functions.
- The compiler will happily optimize away such indirections.</dd>
- </dl>
- <dl>
- <dt>Q: Lua runs everywhere. Why doesn't LuaJIT support my CPU?</dt>
- <dd>Because it's a compiler — it needs to generate native
- machine code. This means the code generator must be ported to each
- architecture. And the fast interpreter is written in assembler and
- must be ported, too. This is quite an undertaking.<br>
- The <a href="install.html">install documentation</a> shows the supported
- architectures. Other architectures will follow based on sufficient user
- demand and/or sponsoring.</dd>
- </dl>
- <dl>
- <dt>Q: When will feature X be added? When will the next version be released?</dt>
- <dd>When it's ready.<br>
- C'mon, it's open source — I'm doing it on my own time and you're
- getting it for free. You can either contribute a patch or sponsor
- the development of certain features, if they are important to you.
- </dd>
- </dl>
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- Copyright © 2005-2012 Mike Pall
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