diff --git a/premake/premake4.lua b/premake/premake4.lua
index 1202c0e92..a9e1b921f 100755
--- a/premake/premake4.lua
+++ b/premake/premake4.lua
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ if _OPTIONS["help"] == nil then
 	end
 
 	local genFile = baseLoc .. "/SDL-gen.lua"
-	local file = fileopen(genFile, "wt")
+	local file = fileopen(genFile, "w")
 	print("Generating " .. genFile .. "...")
 	-- begin generating the config header file
 	startGeneration(premakeConfigHeader, premakeTemplateHeader)
diff --git a/premake/util/sdl_check_compile.lua b/premake/util/sdl_check_compile.lua
index c3733355b..41205c65f 100755
--- a/premake/util/sdl_check_compile.lua
+++ b/premake/util/sdl_check_compile.lua
@@ -101,6 +101,18 @@ local function cleanup_build()
 	os.remove("./premakecheck.stdout")
 end
 
+local function os_execute(cmd)
+	if _ENV then
+		-- Lua 5.2 or greater
+		local cmdSuccess, textStatus, returnCode = os.execute(cmd)
+		return returnCode
+	else
+		-- Lua 5.1 or lesser
+		local returnCode = os.execute(cmd)
+		return returnCode
+	end
+end
+
 -- Check if a source builds, links, and or/runs, where running depends on
 -- linking and linking depends on building. The return from this function is
 -- a triple, where the first is a boolean value indicating if it successfully
@@ -108,10 +120,10 @@ end
 -- linked, and the third represents nil if it was not run or run correctly, or
 -- the output from the program executed (may be empty for no output).
 local function check_build_source(source, link, run)
-	local file = fileopen("./premakecheck.c", "wt")
+	local file = fileopen("./premakecheck.c", "w")
 	file:write(source)
 	file:close()
-	local result = os.execute(build_compile_line())
+	local result = os_execute(build_compile_line())
 	if not link then
 		cleanup_build()
 		if result == 0 then
@@ -125,13 +137,13 @@ local function check_build_source(source, link, run)
 		cleanup_build()
 		return false, false, nil -- no compile, no link, no run
 	end
-	result = os.execute(build_link_line())
+	result = os_execute(build_link_line())
 	if not run or result ~= 0 then -- have to link to run
 		cleanup_build()
 		return true, result == 0, nil -- compile, maybe link, no run
 	end
-	result = os.execute(build_run_line())
-	local output = readfile("./premakecheck.stdout", "rt")
+	result = os_execute(build_run_line())
+	local output = readfile("./premakecheck.stdout", "r")
 	cleanup_build()
 	return true, true, output -- compile, link, ran
 end
diff --git a/premake/util/sdl_gen_config.lua b/premake/util/sdl_gen_config.lua
index f0873e52d..ec4ededa3 100755
--- a/premake/util/sdl_gen_config.lua
+++ b/premake/util/sdl_gen_config.lua
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ local insertLocation
 -- This function begins config header generation given the name of the generated
 -- file and the name of the template file to use.
 function startGeneration(file, template)
-	configFile = fileopen(file, "wt")
-	templateFileContents = readfile(template, "rt")
+	configFile = fileopen(file, "w")
+	templateFileContents = readfile(template, "r")
 	insertLocation = templateFileContents:find(searchKey)
 	if insertLocation then
 		configFile:write(templateFileContents:sub(1, insertLocation - 1))