new-style modules may have @alias to indicate an internal shorthand for the module

doc.lua

@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ local split_dotted_name = tools.split_dotted_name
 --  - tags which represent a type, like 'function' (TAG_TYPE)
 local known_tags = {
     param = 'M', see = 'M', usage = 'M', ['return'] = 'M', field = 'M', author='M';
-    class = 'id', name = 'id', pragma = 'id';
-    copyright = 'S', description = 'S', release = 'S';
+    class = 'id', name = 'id', pragma = 'id', alias = 'id';
+    copyright = 'S', summary = 'S', description = 'S', release = 'S';
     module = 'T', script = 'T',['function'] = 'T', table = 'T'
 }
 known_tags._alias = {}
@@ -108,6 +108,10 @@ function File:finish()
                 if not mod and not this_mod.old_style and item.inferred then
                     --item:warning(item.name .. ' is declared in global scope')
                 end
+                -- the function may be qualified with a module alias...
+                if this_mod.tags.alias and mod == this_mod.tags.alias then
+                    mod = this_mod.mod_name
+                end
                 -- if that's the mod_name, then we want to only use 'foo'
                 if mod == this_mod.mod_name and this_mod.tags.pragma ~= 'nostrip' then
                     item.name = fname

ldoc.lua

@@ -125,9 +125,8 @@ local function extract_tags (s)
     local preamble,tag_items = parse_tags(s)
 
     local strip = tools.strip
-    local summary,description = preamble:match('^(.-)[%.?]%s(.+)')
+    local summary,description = preamble:match('^(.-[%.?])%s(.+)')
     if not summary then summary = preamble end
-    summary = summary .. '.'
     local tags = {summary=summary and strip(summary),description=description and strip(description)}
     for _,item in ipairs(tag_items) do
         local tag,value = item[1],item[2]

tests/simple/simple_alias.lua

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+------------
+-- A new-style module.
+-- Shows how @alias can be used to tell ldoc that a given name
+-- is a shorthand for the full module name
+-- @alias M
+
+local simple_alias = {}
+local M = simple_alias
+
+--- return the answer. And complete the description
+function M.answer()
+  return 42
+end
+
+return simple_alias
+