lpeglabel requires compilation, and support for native modules, while there are several alternative lua implementations, such as gopher-lua, which don't support compiled native modules

although I don't know of any pure-lua lpeglabel implementations, there are a couple of lua-based lpeg implementations, though, such as LuLPeg(emulates LPeg v0.12) and LPegLJ(LPeg v1.0, but for LuaJIT 2.x, so doesn't really count)

my use-case would be with Algernon web server, which embeds gopher-lua, so I don't need to also have a separate copy of "normal lua" to use candran with