'Attempt to index global (a nil value)' when lua is in APPDATA directory

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Hi,

I am running Wireshark 4.0.2 on Windows 11.

I have 3 lua files that constitute our custom dissector. The top level lua file is general.lua which creates a protocol object:

xran_protocol = Proto("xran", "<snip>")

xran_protocol.prefs.c_plane_debug_level = Pref.enum("C-plane debug", 0, "C-plane debug printing level", debug_pref_enum, false)

A lower level lua file accesses that object:

debug_level = xran_protocol.prefs.c_plane_debug_level <--- A

If my lua files are in the global plugin folder:

"C:\Program Files\Wireshark\plugins\4.0"

it works fine. But if I move the lua files to the personal plugin folder:

%APPDATA%\Wireshark\plugins

line A above gives error:

Lua Error: ...rs\<name>\AppData\Roaming\Wireshark\plugins\cplane.lua:333: attempt to index global 'xran_protocol' (a nil value)

Please can you suggest why it works in the global folder but not in the personal folder?