In this example Protobuf Module Example | Developer, it installs protobuf directly using luarocks which suppose that lua already installed on the machine. What lua is actually used in that example - the one from Aerospilke GitHub - aerospike/lua: The Lua development repository, as seen by the Lua team. Mirrored irregularly. Please DO NOT send pull requests. Report issues in the Lua mailing list https://www.lua.org/lua-l.html, then question is how to make it available for my luarocks installation?, or the one which user installed separately, the question is how to install it correctly to avoid any issues with builtin lua