cannot get ranger_zlua.py working

Hi, thanks for all the work on z.lua. Nice to see the repository still active and the tool cared for.
I love it and have been using all these years

I am trying to use it with ranger.

I read what the ranger wiki says, https://github.com/ranger/ranger.
And what z.lua says, /usr/share/z.lua/README.md,

copy the `ranger_zlua.py` file to `~/.config/ranger/plugins/`.

Question 1
I am not 100% sure. Should I also chmod +x it ? I did it anyway

Question 2

# $RANGER_LUA and $RANGER_ZLUA variables are deprecated, do not use them.
ZLUA_LUAEXE = os.environ.get('RANGER_LUA') or os.environ.get('ZLUA_LUAEXE')
ZLUA_SCRIPT = os.environ.get('RANGER_ZLUA') or os.environ.get('ZLUA_SCRIPT')

No matter what I tried I cannot have it working.

ranger_zlua: Could not find z.lua, please make sure $ZLUA_SCRIPT is set to absolute path of z.lua.
Error while loading plugin 'ranger_zlua'

I have a standard Archlinux installation. No hacks, not customizations.
I have on my bashrc

eval "$(lua /usr/share/z.lua/z.lua  --init bash enhanced once )"

On my shell

$ echo $ZLUA_LUAEXE

/usr/bin/lua

$ echo $ZLUA_SCRIPT

/usr/share/z.lua/z.lua

Are correctly displayed.

The only way I found was to hardcode and change in ranger_zlua.py both

ZLUA_LUAEXE = "/usr/bin/lua"
ZLUA_SCRIPT = "/usr/share/z.lua/z.lua"

Then it works.

I am not a developer. Not very proficient with git. The only possibly related
stuff I found were these commits from 2 years ago,

f347eaf 2Y Ilya Grigoriev  o Slight stylistic edits to `ranger_zlua.py`
e11d2e2 2Y Ilya Grigoriev  o Fixes and docs for the ranger plugin
9dc5875 4Y Sami Kankaristo o Fix `z -I` in ranger_zlua.py
1e0e352 5Y skywind3000     I add ranger plugin for z.lua

-PATH_LUA = os.environ.get('RANGER_LUA') or os.environ.get('ZLUA_LUAEXE')
-PATH_ZLUA = os.environ.get('RANGER_ZLUA') or os.environ.get('ZLUA_SCRIPT')
+ZLUA_LUAEXE = os.environ.get('RANGER_LUA') or os.environ.get('ZLUA_LUAEXE')
+ZLUA_SCRIPT = os.environ.get('RANGER_ZLUA') or os.environ.get('ZLUA_SCRIPT')

Could you confirm me that "ranger_lua.py" is up to date and properly working on your own system ?

By the way. You have

......
# class z(ranger.api.commands.Command):
    def execute (self):
        import sys, os, time
        .....

When youu press "?" for help, and then "c" for commands in ranger, a help page shows up for that :command.

You could add something for example,

# class z(ranger.api.commands.Command):
    """
    :z <foo>
    :z -i <foo>

    You can also put `alias zb z -b` into `~/.config/ranger/rc.conf`.
    Bla bla bla ... does this and that ....
    Bla bla bla ... does this and that ....
    Example usage ... foo ... bar
    """
    def execute (self):
        import sys, os, time
        ....

Thanks in advance.

Start with ranger_zlua.py and the ranger plugin instructions in README.md, then reproduce the reported setup using the ZLUA_LUAEXE and ZLUA_SCRIPT values shown. Check how the plugin receives those environment variables when ranger starts. Done means confirming a working configuration or documenting the required setup and adding the requested command help if appropriate.