diff --git a/.github/actions/build-and-test/action.yml b/.github/actions/build-and-test/action.yml
index b62fc1048..a19bf1042 100644
--- a/.github/actions/build-and-test/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/build-and-test/action.yml
@@ -16,12 +16,7 @@ runs:
 
       - name: configure
         run: |
-          CMAKE_OPTIONS="-LA -DBUILD_TESTS=ON"
-          if [ -z "${LUA_VERSION}" ]; then
-            CMAKE_OPTIONS="$CMAKE_OPTIONS -DWITH_LUA=OFF"
-          else
-            CMAKE_OPTIONS="$CMAKE_OPTIONS -DWITH_LUAJIT=${LUAJIT_OPTION}"
-          fi
+          CMAKE_OPTIONS="-LA -DBUILD_TESTS=ON -DWITH_LUAJIT=${LUAJIT_OPTION}"
           if [ -n "$WITH_PROJ" ]; then
             CMAKE_OPTIONS="$CMAKE_OPTIONS -DWITH_PROJ=$WITH_PROJ"
           fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index e8ee5d005..a0093bd0e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -215,22 +215,6 @@ jobs:
       - uses: ./.github/actions/ubuntu-prerequisites
       - uses: ./.github/actions/build-and-test
 
-  ubuntu20-pg13-gcc10-release-nolua:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
-
-    env:
-      CC: gcc-10
-      CXX: g++-10
-      POSTGRESQL_VERSION: 13
-      POSTGIS_VERSION: 2.5
-      BUILD_TYPE: Release
-      PSYCOPG: 2
-
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: ./.github/actions/ubuntu-prerequisites
-      - uses: ./.github/actions/build-and-test
-
   ubuntu22-pg16-clang14-jit:
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
 
@@ -323,23 +307,6 @@ jobs:
       - uses: ./.github/actions/ubuntu-prerequisites
       - uses: ./.github/actions/build-and-test
 
-  ubuntu22-pg16-gcc12-release-nolua:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
-
-    env:
-      CC: gcc-12
-      CXX: g++-12
-      EXTRA_FLAGS: -Wno-stringop-overread
-      POSTGRESQL_VERSION: 16
-      POSTGIS_VERSION: 3
-      BUILD_TYPE: Release
-      PSYCOPG: 2
-
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: ./.github/actions/ubuntu-prerequisites
-      - uses: ./.github/actions/build-and-test
-
   ubuntu22-pg16-clang15-cpp20:
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
 
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 9cb2708cd..5da692841 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ endif()
 
 option(BUILD_TESTS    "Build test suite" OFF)
 option(BUILD_COVERAGE "Build with coverage" OFF)
-option(WITH_LUA       "Build with Lua support" ON)
 option(WITH_LUAJIT    "Build with LuaJIT support" OFF)
 option(WITH_PROJ      "Build with Projection support" ON)
 
@@ -184,23 +183,19 @@ include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
 find_package(Osmium 2.17.3 REQUIRED COMPONENTS io)
 include_directories(SYSTEM ${OSMIUM_INCLUDE_DIRS} ${PROTOZERO_INCLUDE_DIR} ${FMT_INCLUDE_DIR} ${CLI11_INCLUDE_DIR})
 
-if (WITH_LUA)
-    if (WITH_LUAJIT)
-        message(STATUS "Building with LuaJIT support")
-        find_package(LuaJIT REQUIRED)
-        include_directories(SYSTEM ${LUAJIT_INCLUDE_DIR})
-        add_definitions(-DHAVE_LUAJIT=1)
-    else()
-        message(STATUS "Building with Lua support")
-        find_package(Lua REQUIRED)
-        include_directories(SYSTEM ${LUA_INCLUDE_DIR})
-    endif()
-    add_definitions(-DHAVE_LUA=1)
-    find_program(LUA_EXE NAMES lua lua5.4 lua5.3 lua5.2 lua5.1)
+if (WITH_LUAJIT)
+    message(STATUS "Building with LuaJIT support")
+    find_package(LuaJIT REQUIRED)
+    include_directories(SYSTEM ${LUAJIT_INCLUDE_DIR})
+    add_definitions(-DHAVE_LUAJIT=1)
 else()
-    message(STATUS "Building without Lua support")
+    message(STATUS "Building with Lua (but not LuaJIT) support")
+    find_package(Lua REQUIRED)
+    include_directories(SYSTEM ${LUA_INCLUDE_DIR})
 endif()
 
+find_program(LUA_EXE NAMES lua lua5.4 lua5.3 lua5.2 lua5.1)
+
 find_package(Boost 1.50 REQUIRED)
 include_directories(SYSTEM ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR})
 
@@ -235,7 +230,7 @@ endif()
 
 if (LUAJIT_FOUND)
     list(APPEND LIBS ${LUAJIT_LIBRARIES})
-elseif (LUA_FOUND)
+else()
     list(APPEND LIBS ${LUA_LIBRARIES})
 endif()
 
@@ -257,28 +252,24 @@ target_link_libraries(osm2pgsql osm2pgsql_lib ${LIBS})
 if (${POTRACE_LIBRARY} STREQUAL "POTRACE_LIBRARY-NOTFOUND" OR NOT OPENCV_CORE_FOUND)
     message(STATUS "Did not find opencv and/or potrace library. Not building osm2pgsql-gen.")
 else()
-    if (WITH_LUA)
-        message(STATUS "Found opencv and potrace library. Building osm2pgsql-gen.")
-        set(BUILD_GEN 1)
-        include_directories(SYSTEM ${POTRACE_INCLUDE_DIR})
-        add_executable(osm2pgsql-gen src/gen/osm2pgsql-gen.cpp
-                    src/gen/canvas.cpp
-                    src/gen/gen-base.cpp
-                    src/gen/gen-create.cpp
-                    src/gen/gen-discrete-isolation.cpp
-                    src/gen/gen-rivers.cpp
-                    src/gen/gen-tile-builtup.cpp
-                    src/gen/gen-tile-raster.cpp
-                    src/gen/gen-tile-sql.cpp
-                    src/gen/gen-tile-vector.cpp
-                    src/gen/gen-tile.cpp
-                    src/gen/params.cpp
-                    src/gen/raster.cpp
-                    src/gen/tracer.cpp)
-        target_link_libraries(osm2pgsql-gen osm2pgsql_lib ${LIBS} ${POTRACE_LIBRARY} ${OpenCV_LIBS})
-    else()
-        message(STATUS "No Lua. Not building osm2pgsql-gen.")
-    endif()
+    message(STATUS "Found opencv and potrace library. Building osm2pgsql-gen.")
+    set(BUILD_GEN 1)
+    include_directories(SYSTEM ${POTRACE_INCLUDE_DIR})
+    add_executable(osm2pgsql-gen src/gen/osm2pgsql-gen.cpp
+                src/gen/canvas.cpp
+                src/gen/gen-base.cpp
+                src/gen/gen-create.cpp
+                src/gen/gen-discrete-isolation.cpp
+                src/gen/gen-rivers.cpp
+                src/gen/gen-tile-builtup.cpp
+                src/gen/gen-tile-raster.cpp
+                src/gen/gen-tile-sql.cpp
+                src/gen/gen-tile-vector.cpp
+                src/gen/gen-tile.cpp
+                src/gen/params.cpp
+                src/gen/raster.cpp
+                src/gen/tracer.cpp)
+    target_link_libraries(osm2pgsql-gen osm2pgsql_lib ${LIBS} ${POTRACE_LIBRARY} ${OpenCV_LIBS})
 endif()
 
 #############################################################
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0ef1c7100..003c44ede 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -53,8 +53,7 @@ Required libraries are
 * [OpenCV](https://opencv.org/) (Optional, for generalization only)
 * [potrace](https://potrace.sourceforge.net/) (Optional, for generalization only)
 * [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org/) client libraries
-* [Lua](https://www.lua.org/) (Optional, used for Lua tag transforms
-  and the flex output)
+* [Lua](https://www.lua.org/)
 * [Python](https://python.org/) (only for running tests)
 * [Psycopg](https://www.psycopg.org/) (only for running tests)
 
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 9ab722474..83094f608 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -5,71 +5,67 @@ add_library(osm2pgsql_lib STATIC)
 # binaries that use it.
 target_compile_features(osm2pgsql_lib PUBLIC cxx_std_17)
 
+set_property(DIRECTORY APPEND PROPERTY CMAKE_CONFIGURE_DEPENDS
+                "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/init.lua")
+file(READ "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/init.lua" LUA_INIT_CODE)
+configure_file(lua-init.cpp.in lua-init.cpp @ONLY)
+
 target_sources(osm2pgsql_lib PRIVATE
-  command-line-app.cpp
-  command-line-parser.cpp
-  db-copy.cpp
-  debug-output.cpp
-  expire-tiles.cpp
-  expire-output.cpp
-  geom.cpp
-  geom-box.cpp
-  geom-from-osm.cpp
-  geom-functions.cpp
-  geom-pole-of-inaccessibility.cpp
-  idlist.cpp
-  input.cpp
-  logging.cpp
-  middle.cpp
-  middle-pgsql.cpp
-  middle-ram.cpp
-  node-locations.cpp
-  node-persistent-cache.cpp
-  ordered-index.cpp
-  osmdata.cpp
-  output-null.cpp
-  output-pgsql.cpp
-  output.cpp
-  pgsql.cpp
-  pgsql-capabilities.cpp
-  pgsql-helper.cpp
-  progress-display.cpp
-  properties.cpp
-  reprojection.cpp
-  table.cpp
-  taginfo.cpp
-  tagtransform-c.cpp
-  tagtransform.cpp
-  tile.cpp
-  thread-pool.cpp
-  util.cpp
-  wildcmp.cpp
-  wkb.cpp
+    command-line-app.cpp
+    command-line-parser.cpp
+    db-copy.cpp
+    debug-output.cpp
+    expire-output.cpp
+    expire-tiles.cpp
+    flex-index.cpp
+    flex-lua-expire-output.cpp
+    flex-lua-geom.cpp
+    flex-lua-index.cpp
+    flex-lua-table.cpp
+    flex-table-column.cpp
+    flex-table.cpp
+    flex-write.cpp
+    geom-box.cpp
+    geom-from-osm.cpp
+    geom-functions.cpp
+    geom-pole-of-inaccessibility.cpp
+    geom.cpp
+    idlist.cpp
+    input.cpp
+    logging.cpp
+    lua-setup.cpp
+    lua-utils.cpp
+    middle-pgsql.cpp
+    middle-ram.cpp
+    middle.cpp
+    node-locations.cpp
+    node-persistent-cache.cpp
+    ordered-index.cpp
+    osmdata.cpp
+    output-flex.cpp
+    output-null.cpp
+    output-pgsql.cpp
+    output.cpp
+    pgsql-capabilities.cpp
+    pgsql-helper.cpp
+    pgsql.cpp
+    progress-display.cpp
+    properties.cpp
+    reprojection.cpp
+    table.cpp
+    taginfo.cpp
+    tagtransform-c.cpp
+    tagtransform-lua.cpp
+    tagtransform.cpp
+    thread-pool.cpp
+    tile.cpp
+    util.cpp
+    wildcmp.cpp
+    wkb.cpp
+    ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/lua-init.cpp
+    ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/src/version.cpp
 )
 
-if (WITH_LUA)
-    set_property(DIRECTORY APPEND PROPERTY CMAKE_CONFIGURE_DEPENDS
-                 "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/init.lua")
-    file(READ "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/init.lua" LUA_INIT_CODE)
-    configure_file(lua-init.cpp.in lua-init.cpp @ONLY)
-    target_sources(osm2pgsql_lib PRIVATE
-        flex-index.cpp
-        flex-table.cpp
-        flex-table-column.cpp
-        flex-lua-expire-output.cpp
-        flex-lua-geom.cpp
-        flex-lua-index.cpp
-        flex-lua-table.cpp
-        flex-write.cpp
-        lua-setup.cpp
-        lua-utils.cpp
-        output-flex.cpp
-        tagtransform-lua.cpp
-        ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/lua-init.cpp)
-endif()
-
-target_sources(osm2pgsql_lib PRIVATE ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/src/version.cpp)
-
 if (HAVE_PROJ6)
     target_sources(osm2pgsql_lib PRIVATE reprojection-generic-proj6.cpp)
 else()
diff --git a/src/command-line-parser.cpp b/src/command-line-parser.cpp
index ee252a358..4f6b575da 100644
--- a/src/command-line-parser.cpp
+++ b/src/command-line-parser.cpp
@@ -22,9 +22,7 @@
 
 #include <CLI/CLI.hpp>
 
-#ifdef HAVE_LUA
 #include <lua.hpp>
-#endif
 
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <cstdio>
@@ -118,15 +116,11 @@ void print_version()
     fmt::print(stderr, "Compiled using the following library versions:\n");
     fmt::print(stderr, "Libosmium {}\n", LIBOSMIUM_VERSION_STRING);
     fmt::print(stderr, "Proj {}\n", get_proj_version());
-#ifdef HAVE_LUA
 #ifdef HAVE_LUAJIT
     fmt::print(stderr, "{} ({})\n", LUA_RELEASE, LUAJIT_VERSION);
 #else
     fmt::print(stderr, "{}\n", LUA_RELEASE);
 #endif
-#else
-    fmt::print(stderr, "Lua support not included\n");
-#endif
 }
 
 static void check_options_non_slim(CLI::App const &app)
@@ -446,7 +440,6 @@ options_t parse_command_line(int argc, char *argv[])
         ->description("Compute area column using Web Mercator coordinates.")
         ->group("Pgsql output options");
 
-#ifdef HAVE_LUA
     // --tag-transform-script
     app.add_option("--tag-transform-script", options.tag_transform_script)
         ->description(
@@ -454,7 +447,6 @@ options_t parse_command_line(int argc, char *argv[])
         ->option_text("SCRIPT")
         ->check(CLI::ExistingFile)
         ->group("Pgsql output options");
-#endif
 
     // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     // Expire options
diff --git a/src/output.cpp b/src/output.cpp
index f4b50b417..da3490114 100644
--- a/src/output.cpp
+++ b/src/output.cpp
@@ -12,16 +12,10 @@
 #include "db-copy.hpp"
 #include "format.hpp"
 #include "options.hpp"
+#include "output-flex.hpp"
 #include "output-null.hpp"
 #include "output-pgsql.hpp"
 
-#ifdef HAVE_LUA
-# include "output-flex.hpp"
-static constexpr char const *const flex_backend = "flex, ";
-#else
-static constexpr char const *const flex_backend = "";
-#endif
-
 #include <stdexcept>
 #include <string>
 #include <utility>
@@ -36,12 +30,10 @@ output_t::create_output(std::shared_ptr<middle_query_t> const &mid,
                                                 options);
     }
 
-#ifdef HAVE_LUA
     if (options.output_backend == "flex") {
         return std::make_shared<output_flex_t>(mid, std::move(thread_pool),
                                                options);
     }
-#endif
 
     if (options.output_backend == "null") {
         return std::make_shared<output_null_t>(mid, std::move(thread_pool),
@@ -49,8 +41,8 @@ output_t::create_output(std::shared_ptr<middle_query_t> const &mid,
     }
 
     throw fmt_error("Output backend '{}' not recognised. Should be one of"
-                    " [pgsql, {}null].",
-                    options.output_backend, flex_backend);
+                    " [pgsql, flex, null].",
+                    options.output_backend);
 }
 
 output_t::output_t(std::shared_ptr<middle_query_t> mid,
diff --git a/src/tagtransform.cpp b/src/tagtransform.cpp
index 4fef20387..41c25ffdc 100644
--- a/src/tagtransform.cpp
+++ b/src/tagtransform.cpp
@@ -7,14 +7,12 @@
  * For a full list of authors see the git log.
  */
 
+#include "tagtransform.hpp"
+
 #include "logging.hpp"
 #include "options.hpp"
 #include "tagtransform-c.hpp"
-#include "tagtransform.hpp"
-
-#ifdef HAVE_LUA
 #include "tagtransform-lua.hpp"
-#endif
 
 #include <stdexcept>
 #include <utility>
@@ -24,16 +22,10 @@ tagtransform_t::make_tagtransform(options_t const *options,
                                   export_list const &exlist)
 {
     if (!options->tag_transform_script.empty()) {
-#ifdef HAVE_LUA
         log_debug("Using lua based tag transformations with script {}",
                   options->tag_transform_script);
         return std::make_unique<lua_tagtransform_t>(
             &options->tag_transform_script, options->extra_attributes);
-#else
-        throw std::runtime_error{"Error: Could not init lua tag transform, as "
-                                 "lua support was not compiled into this "
-                                 "version."};
-#endif
     }
 
     log_debug("Using built-in tag transformations");
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 6e293eb2b..3e85a303b 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -39,11 +39,12 @@ add_library(catch_main_lib STATIC catch-main.cpp)
 target_compile_features(catch_main_lib PUBLIC cxx_std_17)
 
 set_test(test-check-input LABELS NoDB)
-set_test(test-db-copy-thread)
 set_test(test-db-copy-mgr)
+set_test(test-db-copy-thread)
 set_test(test-domain-matcher LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-expire-from-geometry LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-expire-tiles LABELS NoDB)
+set_test(test-flex-indexes)
 set_test(test-geom-box LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-geom-collections LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-geom-linestrings LABELS NoDB)
@@ -53,16 +54,29 @@ set_test(test-geom-multipolygons LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-geom-null LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-geom-output LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-geom-points LABELS NoDB)
-set_test(test-geom-polygons LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-geom-pole-of-inaccessibility LABELS NoDB)
+set_test(test-geom-polygons LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-geom-transform LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-json-writer LABELS NoDB)
+set_test(test-lua-utils)
 set_test(test-middle)
 set_test(test-node-locations LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-options-parse LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-options-projection)
 set_test(test-ordered-index LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-osm-file-parsing LABELS NoDB)
+set_test(test-output-flex)
+set_test(test-output-flex-multi-input)
+set_test(test-output-flex-nodes)
+set_test(test-output-flex-relation-combinations)
+set_test(test-output-flex-relations)
+set_test(test-output-flex-schema)
+set_test(test-output-flex-stage2)
+set_test(test-output-flex-tablespace LABELS Tablespace)
+set_test(test-output-flex-types)
+set_test(test-output-flex-uni)
+set_test(test-output-flex-update)
+set_test(test-output-flex-validgeom)
 set_test(test-output-pgsql)
 set_test(test-output-pgsql-area)
 set_test(test-output-pgsql-hstore-match-only)
@@ -83,29 +97,10 @@ set_test(test-util LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-wildcard-match LABELS NoDB)
 set_test(test-wkb LABELS NoDB)
 
-# these tests require LUA support
-if (WITH_LUA)
-    set_test(test-flex-indexes)
-    set_test(test-lua-utils)
-    set_test(test-output-flex)
-    set_test(test-output-flex-multi-input)
-    set_test(test-output-flex-nodes)
-    set_test(test-output-flex-uni)
-    set_test(test-output-flex-relations)
-    set_test(test-output-flex-relation-combinations)
-    set_test(test-output-flex-schema)
-    set_test(test-output-flex-stage2)
-    set_test(test-output-flex-tablespace LABELS Tablespace)
-    set_test(test-output-flex-types)
-    set_test(test-output-flex-update)
-    set_test(test-output-flex-validgeom)
-
-    set_test(test-output-flex-example-configs)
-    set(FLEX_EXAMPLE_CONFIGS "addresses,attributes,bbox,compatible,data-types,expire,generic,geometries,indexes,places,route-relations,simple,unitable")
-    # with-schema.lua is not tested because it needs the schema created in the database
-    set_tests_properties(test-output-flex-example-configs PROPERTIES ENVIRONMENT "EXAMPLE_FILES=${FLEX_EXAMPLE_CONFIGS}")
-endif()
-
+set_test(test-output-flex-example-configs)
+set(FLEX_EXAMPLE_CONFIGS "addresses,attributes,bbox,compatible,data-types,expire,generic,geometries,indexes,places,route-relations,simple,unitable")
+# with-schema.lua is not tested because it needs the schema created in the database
+set_tests_properties(test-output-flex-example-configs PROPERTIES ENVIRONMENT "EXAMPLE_FILES=${FLEX_EXAMPLE_CONFIGS}")
 
 # Fixture for creating test tablespace under a pg_virtualenv
 if (NOT WIN32)
@@ -138,13 +133,11 @@ else()
     message(WARNING "Cannot find behave, BDD tests disabled")
 endif()
 
-if (WITH_LUA)
-    if (LUA_EXE)
-        message(STATUS "Added test: lua-lib")
-        add_test(NAME lua-lib COMMAND ${LUA_EXE} lua/tests.lua
-                WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
-        set_tests_properties(lua-lib PROPERTIES LABELS NoDB)
-    else()
-        message(WARNING "Can not find Lua interpreter, test 'lua-lib' disabled")
-    endif()
+if (LUA_EXE)
+    message(STATUS "Added test: lua-lib")
+    add_test(NAME lua-lib COMMAND ${LUA_EXE} lua/tests.lua
+            WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
+    set_tests_properties(lua-lib PROPERTIES LABELS NoDB)
+else()
+    message(WARNING "Can not find Lua interpreter, test 'lua-lib' disabled")
 endif()
diff --git a/tests/test-options-parse.cpp b/tests/test-options-parse.cpp
index be9b4971f..6ac4505b3 100644
--- a/tests/test-options-parse.cpp
+++ b/tests/test-options-parse.cpp
@@ -66,10 +66,8 @@ TEST_CASE("Middle selection", "[NoDB]")
 
 TEST_CASE("Lua styles", "[NoDB]")
 {
-#ifdef HAVE_LUA
     REQUIRE_THROWS_WITH(opt({"--tag-transform-script", "non_existing.lua"}),
                         Catch::Matchers::Contains("File does not exist"));
-#endif
 }
 
 TEST_CASE("Parsing bbox", "[NoDB]")