

Apache to include a mod_lua by default in next stable release - compay
http://lua-users.org/lists/lua-l/2008-12/msg00119.html

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compay
This is very good news for Lua as a web development language. The
avaialability of a high-quality deployment option for web applications will
remove one of the primary obstacles to acceptance of Lua for web development.
Lua’s small size could make it an appealing environment for use on small,
cheap VPS systems from providers such as Dreamhost. Its performance should
make it attractive for larger systems too.

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brianm
With any luck I'll be able to backport it to 2.2 as well, once it is stable,
itself. It would probably be backported as an external module though, as it
was when we called it mod_wombat.

~~~
acangiano
A good name would be mod_moon.

~~~
LogicHoleFlaw
If you read further into that mailing list thread, you see that the decision
was to use 'mod_lua'. The previous user of that name has abdicated the throne,
so to speak.

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mlLK
This could be huge...I mean, really huge, like so huge it puts some far-
fetched project like: <http://code.google.com/p/nativeclient/> into a codeable
context. If this module gets the care and tenderness it deserves I think it's
safe to assume that it will forever change how we use HTTP and what we use it
for. I mean think about it, given the advent of JavaScript on the front-end
plus something like Lua on the back-end. . .you might as well say good-night
to our current client-server model for the web as we know it. This is so big
that calling it something like Web3.0 is a misnomer, something this big could
render our operating-systems into browsers, our desktops into
plugins/extensions, and our applications into remote-services...ok ok, maybe
those last few somethings were a bit of a stretch, but it's exciting to see
someone as big as Apache introduce a scrpiting module that has been
responsible for something as successful as the gaming industry that this could
be that back-end interface that JavaScript has been so patiently waiting
waiting for ever since it almost miscarried out of the womb of Netscape. Plus,
it's reassuring to know that C isn't going out of style any time soon. :P

~~~
randallsquared
I fear you're in for a letdown.

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jrockway
Wow, awesome. Lua is much nicer than PHP.

I have a feeling that if Lua catches on, though, that it will become the same
cut-n-paste quagmire that PHP did. If you are only using something because it
is already installed, you are not going to bother with libraries. That makes
me sad.

But, we will see how it goes.

~~~
compay
Well, any language that becomes popular is going to have its share of crappy
code being written. I'd much rather see newbie programmers get their start
with a cleaner language like Lua than PHP, maybe it might help them learn
better from the beginning.

~~~
jrockway
Yes, I agree completely.

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acangiano
Now we need Lua on Orbits. ;-)

~~~
LogicHoleFlaw
Indeeeeeeeeeed.

<http://orbit.luaforge.net/>

~~~
mascarenhas
Orbit is more like Camping or web.py than Rails, though. But I tried to make
its deployment (along with the rest of Kepler) as easy as PHP's as possible.
:-) Having a Lua embedded on Apache by default should make _fast_ deployment
very easy, too (the easiest way to deploy on Apache right now is CGI, with
FastCGI being a little more work).

------
nuclear_eclipse
Is something like WSGI compatible with Lua, or is there something equivalent
that can be used?

~~~
brianm
There is, the Kepler folks came up with it, they call it WSAPI.

My main use for mod_lua, right now, is actually not content handlers (regular
apps), but things like auth modules, ripping out mod_rewrite, etc. A large
news company in atlanta used it for mobile browser sniffing and redirects at
the first point in apache's handler chain (the quick_handler), as well.

------
xenophanes
will ruby and python get the same treatment? if not, why not?

edit: ty.

~~~
compay
<http://www.modpython.org/>

<http://www.modruby.net/>

<http://www.modrails.com/>

Lua is easy to add "by default" because its interpreter is tiny and was
designed for embedding. The others are too big.

