How do I add a "local" using the c api

["Tom Miles" <Tom@...>]

Hi,

I don't know if this has been discussed before, I had a quick look at
the list archives, but only found something a bit relevant that didn't
seem to amount to anything.

My question is this though.  I have several states that inherit their
environment from parent states.  When I initiate a state I call some c
code to add some extra standard bits and pieces, some of which I want
child states to inherit, others I don't.  In a script I would declare
these as local, but I haven't found anything that copies the required
behaviour in the c api.  I've found lua_setlocal(), but that's part of
the debug library, so would seem inappropriate, and the only reference I
found on the list before mentions upvalues.  Are local variables just
upvalues for the entire state or something?

In short, how do I achieve something like this from the c api when I
create my state?

-- script start
local MAX_LIMIT = 10

-- lots of functions that use MAX_LIMIT everywhere

-- end script

(Short script huh!)

Thanks for any help,

Tom