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Testing multiple Lua versions with Laura and GitHub Actions

Laura avatar

Lua 5 has several major versions, each introducing changes that may cause incompatibilities. Code that works in Lua 5.3 may not function correctly in Lua 5.1 or may behave differently. This is a natural part of the language’s evolution, with bug fixes, new features, and occasional removals. If you’re developing a library, it’s wise to test it across multiple Lua versions. GitHub Actions provides a nearly out-of-the-box solution for this task.

We will use GitHub Actions containers with Lua and LuaRocks, then install the following rocks: luacheck and laura.

Here is the showcase of how to do this.

Preparing files for the test

Let’s create two files: one for the main code, placed in the src directory, and another for unit tests, located in the test directory. However, the specific directory structure is not mandatory. You change paths later in workflow file.

--src/mymath.lua
local mymath = {
    add = function(a, b)
        return a + b
    end,
    sub = function(a, b)
        return a - b
    end,
    mul = function(a, b)
        return a * b
    end,
    div = function(a, b)
        return a / b
    end,
}

return mymath

--test/mymath.test.lua
local laura = require("laura")
local mymath = require("src/mymath")

local describe = laura.describe
local it = laura.it
local expect = laura.expect

describe("my-math module", function()
    it("should add two number", function()
        expect(mymath.add(40, 2)).toEqual(42)
    end)
    it("should subtract two number", function()
        expect(mymath.sub(40, 2)).toEqual(38)
    end)
    it("should multiply  two number", function()
        expect(mymath.mul(40, 2)).toEqual(80)
    end)
    it("should divide two number", function()
        expect(mymath.div(40, 2)).toEqual(20)
    end)
    it("should divide by zero and get infinity", function()
        expect(mymath.div(40, 0)).notToBeFinite()
    end)
end)

So structure is very trivial:

.
├── src
│   └── mymath.lua
└── test
    └── mymath.test.lua

Setup GitHub Actions

Assumed that you have already created a GitHub repository; if not, here is the guide on how to do this.

Inside your repository, choose actions from the top menu.

GitHub Action location in the menu

Search for the Simple workflow and select it.

GitHub Action Simple workflow

The GitHub code editor will be opened. Paste the configuration below into the editor.

name: Tests
on: [push]
jobs:
  test:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        # Put here Lua versions to be tested
        luaVersion: ['5.1', '5.2', '5.3', '5.4', 'luajit-2.1', 'luajit-openresty']
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    env:
      TERM: xterm
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      # Lua and LuaRocks installation
      - uses: leafo/gh-actions-lua@v11
      - uses: leafo/gh-actions-luarocks@v4
        with:
          luaVersion: ${{ matrix.luaVersion }}
      - name: "install luacheck"
        run: luarocks install luacheck

      - name: "install laura"
        run: luarocks install laura

      # Here you change test directory, if is different.
      - name: test
        run: laura test/ 

      # Here you change source directory, if is different.
      - name: lint
        run: luacheck src/ test/

After press the button “Commit changes…” and set any commit message you like. The new directory with workflow configuration will be committed to the repository .github/workflows/<action>.yml.

GitHub Actions commit changes button

So we are done, now on every push the code will be tested with versions specified in jobs.test.strategy.matrix.luaVersions, check working demo on GitHub.

GitHub Actions all builds are passed

References

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