Error requiring luasocket on socket.core file inst

Question

System configuration:

OS: Windows 7 x64

lua -v
  Lua 5.1.4

luarocks -v
  2.2.0beta1

luarocks list
  luasocket
    3.0rc1-1 (installed) - C:/Program Files (x86)/LuaRocks/systree/lib/luarocks/rocks

luarocks show luasocket
   LuaSocket 3.0rc1-1 - Network support for the Lua language

    LuaSocket is a Lua extension library that is composed by two parts: a C core
    that provides support for the TCP and UDP transport layers, and a set of Lua
    modules that add support for functionality commonly needed by applications that
    deal with the Internet.

    License:        MIT
    Homepage:       http://luaforge.net/projects/luasocket/
    Installed in:   C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree

    Modules:
        ltn12 (C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/share/lua/5.1/ltn12.lua)
        mime (C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/share/lua/5.1/mime.lua)
        mime.core (C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/lib/lua/5.1/mime/core.dll)
        socket (C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/share/lua/5.1/socket.lua)
        socket.core (C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/lib/lua/5.1/socket/core.dll)
        socket.ftp (C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/share/lua/5.1/socket/ftp.lua)
        socket.headers (C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/share/lua/5.1/socket/headers.lua)
        socket.http (C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/share/lua/5.1/socket/http.lua)
        socket.smtp (C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/share/lua/5.1/socket/smtp.lua)
        socket.tp (C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/share/lua/5.1/socket/tp.lua)
        socket.url (C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/share/lua/5.1/socket/url.lua)

luarocks path
  SET LUA_PATH=C:\Users\Zequez\AppData\Roaming/luarocks/share/lua/5.1/?.lua;
  C:\Users\Zequez\AppData\Roaming/luarocks/share/lua/5.1/?/init.lua;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/share/lua/5.1/?.lua;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/share/lua/5.1/?/init.lua;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\lua\?.lua;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\lua\?\init.lua;
  SET LUA_CPATH=C:\Users\Zequez\AppData\Roaming/luarocks/lib/lua/5.1/?.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/lib/lua/5.1/?.dll;
  .\?.dll;
  .\?51.dll;
  C:\ProgramFiles (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\?.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\?51.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\clibs\?.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\clibs\?51.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\loadall.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\clibs\loadall.dll
      SET LUA_CPATH=C:\Users\Zequez\AppData\Roaming/luarocks/lib/lua/5.1/?.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/lib/lua/5.1/?.dll;
  .\?.dll;
  .\?51.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\?.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\?51.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\clibs\?.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\clibs\?51.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\loadall.dll;
  C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\2.2\clibs\loadall.dll

I'm new to Lua, and I'm not used to compiling stuff on Windows.

Anyway the installaion of luasocket finished without errors, compiling all the stuff with MS Visual Studio 2010. Had to run luarocks from the Visual Studio Command Prompt, but it finally worked.

But when I try to require it, I drive into an error.

> require 'socket'
error loading module 'socket.core' from file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/lib/lua/5.1/socket\core.dll':
        C:\Program Files (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/lib/lua/5.1/socket\core.dll:1: '=' expected near 'É'
stack traceback:
        [C]: ?
        [C]: in function 'require'
        ...iles (x86)\LuaRocks\systree/share/lua/5.1/socket.lua:12: in main chunk
        [C]: in function 'require'
        stdin:1: in main chunk
        [C]: ?

Using require 'luarocks.loader' doesn't help either, same error. I think I don't need it anyway, because I have LUA_PATH set up with the luarocks paths

I searched for hours with no results. I also tried to install an older version of Luasockets but it requires Visual Studio 2003, so I would like to avoid that.

Answer 1

It looks like Lua is trying to parse the DLL as Lua code. This can happen if package.path (or the LUA_PATH environment variable) contains ?.dll path templates. Please remove all ?.dll templates from package.path and put them into package.cpath (or the LUA_CPATH environment variable).