Lua Pack

A Rust-based tool for bundling and minifying Lua scripts into monolithic releases.

Features

• Bundling: Combine multiple Lua modules into a single file
• Minification: Reduce file size by removing whitespace and shortening identifiers
• LZ4 Compression: Optional compression support (requires external decompressor)
• Dynamic Requires: Support for runtime module loading (with the dynamic feature)
• Lua Compatibility: Supports Lua 5.1-5.4, LuaU, and CfxLua syntax

Installation

Either cargo install luapack or cargo binstall luapack depending on which is available. Read the Cargo.toml for compilation options.

Usage

luapack [OPTIONS] --output <OUTPUT> --file <FILE>

Options

  -p, --prefix <PREFIX>  An optional prefix file that will be added to the output
  -s, --suffix <SUFFIX>  An optional suffix file that will be added to the output
  -o, --output <OUTPUT>  Output file path
  -f, --file <FILE>      Input file path
  -B, --bundle           Bundle modules (entry point resolution)
  -P, --pack             Minify the output
  -l, --lz4              Compress output with LZ4
  -h, --help             Print help
  -V, --version          Print version

Examples

Default (bundle + pack):

luapack -f main.lua -o output.lua

Bundle only:

luapack -B -f main.lua -o bundled.lua

Pack only (minify existing file):

luapack -P -f script.lua -o minified.lua

Bundle, pack, and compress:

luapack -l -f main.lua -o output.lua

With a prefix and suffix:

luapack -p prefix.lua -s suffix.lua -l -f main.lua -o output.lua

How It Works

Bundling

The bundler resolves require() statements and combines all dependencies into a single file with a custom module loader. Modules are stored in a table and loaded on-demand.

Input:

-- main.lua
local utils = require('./utils')
utils.hello()

-- utils.lua
return {
    hello = function() print("Hello!") end
}

Output:

require = function(c)
  return __M[c]()
end
__M={
  ["utils.lua"]=function()
    return {
      hello = function() print("Hello!") end
    }
  end
}
local utils = require("utils.lua")
utils.hello()

Dynamic Requires

With the dynamic feature enabled, all .lua files in your project directory are automatically included in the bundle, allowing runtime defined dependencies. If you want to exclude a certain Lua file then add -- ignore as its first line. Keep in mind that paths are relative to the parent of the first .git directory it can find.

Packing (Minification)

Just removes whitespaces (wherever possible) and shortens variable names.

LZ4 Compression

Compresses output using the lz4 algorithm.

Limitations

• LZ4 decompressor not included - use -p and -s to add your own
• Dynamic requires increase bundle size significantly
• Requires Git repository for dynamic feature

Maintenance

This project is minimally maintained - updates will be made if it breaks with new Lua versions or dependencies.

License

MPLv2