FindLua50
Note
This module is intended specifically for Lua version branch 5.0, which is obsolete and not maintained anymore. In new code use the latest supported Lua version and the version-agnostic module FindLua instead.
Finds the Lua library:
find_package(Lua50 [...])
Lua is a embeddable scripting language.
When working with Lua, its library headers are intended to be included in project source code as:
#include <lua.h>
and not:
#include <lua/lua.h>
This is because, the location of Lua headers may differ across platforms and may exist in locations other than lua/.
Result Variables
This module defines the following variables:
-
Lua50_FOUND -
Added in version 3.3.
Boolean indicating whether Lua was found.
Cache Variables
The following cache variables may also be set:
-
LUA_INCLUDE_DIR -
The directory containing the Lua header files, such as
lua.h,lualib.h, andlauxlib.h, needed to use Lua. -
LUA_LIBRARIES -
Libraries needed to link against to use Lua. This list includes both
luaandlualiblibraries.
Deprecated Variables
The following variables are provided for backward compatibility:
-
LUA50_FOUND -
Deprecated since version 4.2: Use
Lua50_FOUND, which has the same value.Boolean indicating whether Lua was found.
Examples
Finding the Lua 5.0 library and creating an interface imported target that encapsulates its usage requirements for linking to a project target:
find_package(Lua50)
if(Lua50_FOUND AND NOT TARGET Lua50::Lua50)
add_library(Lua50::Lua50 INTERFACE IMPORTED)
set_target_properties(
Lua50::Lua50
PROPERTIES
INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES "${LUA_INCLUDE_DIR}"
INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES "${LUA_LIBRARIES}"
)
endif()
target_link_libraries(project_target PRIVATE Lua50::Lua50)
See Also
- The
FindLuamodule to find Lua in version-agnostic way.
© 2000–2026 Kitware, Inc. and Contributors
Licensed under the BSD 3-clause License.
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/module/FindLua50.html