Apt and Apache

root@lol ~ # apt-get update
Get:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable InRelease [198 kB]
Get:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable/main Sources [10.6 MB]
Get:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable/main amd64 Packages [9,944 kB]
Get:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable/main Translation-en [7,230 kB]
Fetched 28.0 MB in 2s (16.2 MB/s)                               
Reading package lists... Done
root@lol ~ # apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  apache2 apache2-bin apache2-data apache2-utils
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.
root@lol ~ #

I wondered why apache2 was held back. I took a quick look at man apt-get and then tried to investigate with the --dry-run flag.

root@lol ~ # man apt-get
root@lol ~ # apt-get full-upgrade --dry-run
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
  liblua5.3-0
Use 'apt autoremove' to remove it.
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  liblua5.4-0
The following packages will be upgraded:
  apache2 apache2-bin apache2-data apache2-utils
4 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Inst liblua5.4-0 (5.4.6-3+b1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst apache2 [2.4.59-2] (2.4.60-1 Debian:unstable [amd64]) []
Inst apache2-bin [2.4.59-2] (2.4.60-1 Debian:unstable [amd64]) []
Inst apache2-data [2.4.59-2] (2.4.60-1 Debian:unstable [all]) []
Inst apache2-utils [2.4.59-2] (2.4.60-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf liblua5.4-0 (5.4.6-3+b1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf apache2 (2.4.60-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf apache2-bin (2.4.60-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf apache2-data (2.4.60-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Conf apache2-utils (2.4.60-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
root@lol ~ # 

Lua and Apache

Looks like

• liblua5.3.0 had been installed,
• the apache upgrade wanted liblua5.4.0, and that
• apt was being careful by not auto-removing liblua5.3.0, which might have been in use.

Lua? Why Lua? I didn't remember installing liblua. I had heard that Lua was a computer language, but I didn't know about Lua.

The first result of a Google search for "liblua apache" was a link to an article, Lua for Apache, at admin-magazine.com. The article didn't seem to have a date, which always is a big red flag for me, but I decided to take a quick look. I was surprised that the article seemed well written.

I noticed that the article listing on Admin-magazine's home page had dates. So I searched in their search box for articles containing the word "lua." The second result was the article I wanted, Lua for Apache. The listing contained the date "10.07.2012."

The article explains that Lua is a scripting language developed in 1993 with these prominent features:

• small, fast interpreter,
• C interface,
• imperative and functional,
• "rudimentary" support for object-oriented programming, and
• "minimal syntax."

The article says that the minimal syntax "makes Lua programs more cryptic than their PHP counterparts."

According to the article, there have been several implementations of Lua scripting for Apache. Several implementations are listed in the article. One of these, mod_wombat, by Brian McCallister, in 2006, has become [had become by 2012?] the mod_lua in the Apache mod family along with mod_perl and mod_php.

The article continues with

• how to compile Apache with Lua enabled,
• Apache configuration [again from 2012?] for Lua,
• a Lua Hello world example,
• an example form for first and last name, and
• a discussion of hooks.

Questions

It looks like my Apt and apt-get options include

• apt autoremove and then apt-get upgrade, and
• apt-get full-upgrade.

Do I understand right that the former will leave liblua marked as autoinstalled, but that the latter will mark liblua as manually installed?

Does anybody here use Lua? Does anybody here use Lua with Apache? If yes, what particular feature of Lua appeals to you for your project?

New Apt Terminal Colors

By the way, Apt in Debian unstable has cool new terminal output colors! The new Apt colors look really great! It's fun to watch the Apt output!

Wish

Speaking of terminal colors, is anybody here using Wish?