Problem:
When you run ./configure while trying to build some software, you see an error message like
checking for lua >= 5.1... no configure: error: lua not found
Solution:
Install a recent Lua version including the development files. First try:
sudo apt -y install liblua5.4-dev
if that package can’t be found, try
sudo apt -y install liblua5.3-dev
and go on trying liblua5.2-dev, liblua5.1-dev or liblua5.0-dev. Which version will work depends on your Ubuntu version.