best linux Distro for Lua programming

[Patrick <spell_gooder_now@...>]

I have used Ubuntu for years and reaped great value from it. However it 
seems like much of the time things don't go well for me when I compile 
programs. I do have the correct packages installed to facilate this, 
such as build-essential etc.

I love the lpeg library and want to use it with luacurl rather then 
php/curl/pcre but neither the Ubuntu package nor my compilation have 
worked and now I am thinking about switching distros.  Has anyone else 
had problems with Ubuntu? Is there a better distro for Lua centric 
development?

Thanks for reading-Patrick