diff --git a/archive-configs/luarocks-config.lua b/archive-configs/luarocks-config.lua
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..38b620ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/archive-configs/luarocks-config.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+-- cross-compilation
+local function getenv(name) return os_getenv(name) or '' end
+variables.LUA_INCDIR = getenv('TARGET_INCLUDE_DIR')
+variables.LUA_LIBDIR = getenv('TARGET_LIB_DIR')
+variables.CC = getenv('TARGET_CC')
+variables.LD = getenv('TARGET_LD')
+variables.CFLAGS = getenv('(TARGET_CFLAGS')
+variables.LDFLAGS = getenv('(TARGET_LDFLAGS')
+variables.LIBFLAG = [[-shared ]] .. getenv('TARGET_LDFLAGS')
+external_deps_dirs = { getenv('TARGET_DIR') }
+gcc_rpath = false
+rocks_trees = { getenv('TARGET_DIR') }
+wrap_bin_scripts = false
+deps_mode = [[none]]
diff --git a/archive-patches/luarocks-0001-allow-libluajit-detection.patch b/archive-patches/luarocks-0001-allow-libluajit-detection.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5a7bc3f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/archive-patches/luarocks-0001-allow-libluajit-detection.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+From 961269271134e711bcfffebb0f179ffddcbf3d5a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Francois Perrad <francois.perrad@gadz.org>
+Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2018 11:17:34 +0200
+Subject: [PATCH] allow libluajit detection
+
+This detection was done only if luarocks is runned by luajit.
+But on Buildroot, luarocks is always runned by lua.
+
+See https://github.com/luarocks/luarocks/pull/883
+
+Signed-off-by: Francois Perrad <francois.perrad@gadz.org>
+---
+ src/luarocks/deps.lua | 4 +---
+ 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 3 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/src/luarocks/deps.lua b/src/luarocks/deps.lua
+index 8403f12..c1c0220 100644
+--- a/src/luarocks/deps.lua
++++ b/src/luarocks/deps.lua
+@@ -544,10 +544,8 @@ function deps.check_lua(vars)
+       "lua-" .. cfg.lua_version,
+       "lua-" .. shortv,
+       "lua",
++      "luajit-" .. cfg.lua_version,
+    }
+-   if cfg.luajit_version then
+-      table.insert(libnames, 1, "luajit-" .. cfg.lua_version)
+-   end
+    local cache = {}
+    for _, libname in ipairs(libnames) do
+       local ok = check_external_dependency("LUA", { library = libname }, vars, "build", cache)
+-- 
+2.17.1
+
diff --git a/make/host-tools.mk b/make/host-tools.mk
index 5e74e95a..913364e1 100644
--- a/make/host-tools.mk
+++ b/make/host-tools.mk
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ host-preqs: \
 	host_sumtool \
 	host_mkimage \
 	host_lua \
+	host_luarocks \
 	host_zic \
 	host_parted \
 	host_mkfs.fat \
@@ -249,7 +250,7 @@ HOST_LUA_PATCH  = lua-01-fix-LUA_ROOT.patch
 HOST_LUA_PATCH += lua-01-remove-readline.patch
 
 host_lua: $(HOST_LUA)
-$(HOST_LUA): $(ARCHIVE)/lua-$(HOST_LUA_VER).tar.gz | $(TARGET_DIR)
+$(HOST_LUA): $(ARCHIVE)/lua-$(HOST_LUA_VER).tar.gz | $(HOST_DIR)
 	$(REMOVE)/lua-$(HOST_LUA_VER)
 	$(UNTAR)/lua-$(HOST_LUA_VER).tar.gz
 	$(CHDIR)/lua-$(HOST_LUA_VER); \
@@ -260,6 +261,45 @@ $(HOST_LUA): $(ARCHIVE)/lua-$(HOST_LUA_VER).tar.gz | $(TARGET_DIR)
 
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+HOST_LUAROCKS = $(HOST_DIR)/bin/luarocks
+HOST_LUAROCKS_VER = 3.1.3
+HOST_LUAROCKS_SOURCE = luarocks-$(HOST_LUAROCKS_VER).tar.gz
+
+$(ARCHIVE)/$(HOST_LUAROCKS_SOURCE):
+	$(WGET) https://luarocks.github.io/luarocks/releases/$(HOST_LUAROCKS_SOURCE)
+
+HOST_LUAROCKS_PATCH  = luarocks-0001-allow-libluajit-detection.patch
+
+HOST_LUAROCKS_CONFIG_FILE = $(HOST_DIR)/etc/luarocks/config-$(LUA_ABIVER).lua
+
+HOST_LUAROCKS_BUILDENV = \
+	LUA_PATH="$(HOST_DIR)/share/lua/$(LUA_ABIVER)/?.lua" \
+	TARGET_CC="$(TARGET)-gcc" \
+	TARGET_LD="$(TARGET)-ld" \
+	TARGET_CFLAGS="$(TARGET_CFLAGS)" \
+	TARGET_LDFLAGS="$(TARGET_LDFLAGS)" \
+	TARGET_DIR="$(TARGET_DIR)" \
+	TARGET_INCLUDE_DIR="$(TARGET_INCLUDE_DIR)" \
+	TARGET_LIB_DIR="$(TARGET_LIB_DIR)"
+
+host_luarocks: $(HOST_LUAROCKS)
+$(HOST_LUAROCKS): $(HOST_LUA) $(ARCHIVE)/$(HOST_LUAROCKS_SOURCE) | $(HOST_DIR)
+	$(REMOVE)/luarocks-$(HOST_LUAROCKS_VER)
+	$(UNTAR)/$(HOST_LUAROCKS_SOURCE)
+	$(CHDIR)/luarocks-$(HOST_LUAROCKS_VER); \
+		$(call apply_patches, $(HOST_LUAROCKS_PATCH)); \
+		./configure $(SILENT_OPT) \
+			--prefix=$(HOST_DIR) \
+			--with-lua=$(HOST_DIR) \
+			--rocks-tree=$(TARGET_DIR) \
+		; \
+		$(MAKE) install
+	install -m 0644 $(CONFIGS)/luarocks-config.lua $(HOST_LUAROCKS_CONFIG_FILE)
+	$(REMOVE)/luarocks-$(HOST_LUAROCKS_VER)
+	$(TOUCH)
+
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 # helper target to create ccache links (make sure to have ccache installed in /usr/bin ;)
 ccache: find-ccache $(CCACHE) $(HOST_DIR)/bin
 	@ln -sf $(CCACHE) $(HOST_DIR)/bin/cc