luarocks is the command-line interface for LuaRocks, the Lua package manager.

luarocks [--server=server | --only-server=server] [--tree=tree] [--only-sources=url] [--deps-mode=mode] [VAR=VALUE]... command [argument]

Variables from the "variables" table of the configuration file can be overriden with VAR=VALUE assignments.

--server=server	Fetch rocks/rockspecs from this server (takes priority over config file)
--only-server=server	Fetch rocks/rockspecs from this server only (overrides any entries in the config file)
--only-sources=url	Restrict downloads of sources to URLs starting with the given URL. For example, --only-sources=http://luarocks.org will allow LuaRocks to download sources only if the URL given in the rockspec starts with http://luarocks.org .
--tree=tree	Which tree to operate on.
--local	Use the tree in the user's home directory. To enable it, see luarocks [[path]]
--deps-mode=mode	Select dependencies mode: How to handle the list of rocks servers given in the rocks_servers array in the config file. one - Consider only the tree at the top of the list (possibly, the one given by the --tree flag, overriding all entries from rocks_trees), ignore all others all - Consider all trees: if a dependency is installed in any tree of the rocks_trees list, we have a positive match. order - Consider only trees starting from the "current" one in the order, where the "current" is either: the one at the bottom of the rocks_trees list, or one explicitly given with --tree or the "home" tree if --local was given or local_by_default=true is configured (usually at the top of the list)
--verbose	Display verbose output of commands executed.
--timeout	Timeout on network operations, in seconds. 0 means no timeout (wait forever). Default is 30.

build	Build/compile and install a rock.
doc	Shows documentation for an installed rock.
download	Download a specific rock or rockspec file from a rocks server.
help	Help on commands.
install	Install a rock.
lint	Check syntax of a rockspec.
list	Lists currently installed rocks.
config	Query and set the LuaRocks configuration.
make	Compile package in current directory using a rockspec and install it.
new_version	Auto-write a rockspec for a new version of a rock.
pack	Create a rock, packing sources or binaries.
path	Return the currently configured package path.
purge	Remove all installed rocks from a tree.
remove	Uninstall a rock.
search	Query the LuaRocks repositories.
test	Run the test suite in the current directory.
show	Shows information about an installed rock.
unpack	Unpack the contents of a rock.
upload	Upload a rockspec to the public rocks repository.
write_rockspec	Write a template for a rockspec file.

luarocks install modulename	downloads a binary .rock file and installs it to the local tree (falls back to "luarocks build modulename" behavior if a binary rock is not found)
luarocks build modulename	downloads a .src.rock or a rockspec and builds+installs it to the local tree.
luarocks build modulename-1.0-1.linux-x86.rock	extracts the rockspec from the rock and builds it as if the rockspec was passed in the command-line (i.e., redownloading sources and recompiling C modules if any).
luarocks build modulename-1.0-1.rockspec	builds+installs the rock using the given rockspec downloading the sources
luarocks make modulename-1.0-1.rockspec	builds+installs the rock using the rockspec using the contents of your current directory (kind of like the way make uses a Makefile) instead of downloading sources
luarocks pack modulename	grabs the rock from your local tree and packs it into a binary .rock file
luarocks pack modulename-1.0-1.rockspec	downloads the sources from the url and packs it into a .src.rock file