Command Line compile causing issue with Quartus Standard vs Quartus Prime Pro

[Jacob11]

Hello support team.

I am developing for the MAX10 FPGA, which is being used as a management/controller system for a Stratix 10 device on the same board. Naturally, I have both Quartus Standard and Quartus Prime Pro installed since the Max10 only works in Quartus Standard. It is a nios build and I am using the eclipse nios tool to write a custom bootloader.

The issue I have is this:

Until now, I have always compiled my Max10 build in the GUI of Quartus Standard. This has always worked with no issues.

Recently, I switched to a command line workflow to speed things up. So, I am compiling using the command

quartus_sh --flow compile max10_project

As you can see in the screenshot this is compiling with the Standard edition compiler, which is what I want.

The compilation completes without error.

After this, I can still use the output files(.sof, .pof) with no issue. However, I can no longer open the project in the GUI. If I open it in Quartus Standard, the error states this was built in quartus Prime Pro and must be opened there. If I try to open it in Quartus Prime Pro it tells me that the MAX10 is not supported in Prime Pro and will not open it. So, essentially after command line compile, my .pof and .sof and .sopcinfo files are fine, but the project can no longer be opened so I can make changes/updates to Qsys...etc.

Any ideas on a workaround to this issue?? I checked the documentation for command line flow for quartus standard on Nios developers handbook and it just says use quartus-sh --flow compile. I dont see any tags that I can add to make the project use a certain file structure that will support Quartus Standard.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Jacob

[sstrell · Accepted solution]

That's very odd.  After you compile from the command line, what directories appear in the project folder?  For a Standard compile, you should see db and incremental_db.  In Pro, you would see qdb.

If you delete whichever of these directories you see, can you then open the project in the Standard GUI?

[Jacob11]

Interestingly, I have db, qdb, and incremental_db. All of them.

But your comment has provided a solution. I deleted all 3 folders, re-compiled and only the db and incremental db folders were created. And the project opens fine again.

I think someone opened the project by mistake in quartus prime pro(maybe even me)....the first prompt asks if you want to convert the file structure so it can be opened here. If you press "yes" it creates a qdb folder, which apparently prevents prime standard from being able to open it.

Thank you for the reply.

Jacob

[sstrell]

That's probably exactly what happened.  I forgot that a Standard project gets converted to Pro when you open it in Pro (though this really only works for Arria 10 designs since it's the only family supported in both).  Weird to see all 3 of those folders, but glad you got it worked out.

[EBERLAZARE_I_Intel]

Hi,

I hope your issues are now resolved, do you have any further questions?

[Jacob11]

Hello. Everything is working now. No further question at the moment. Thanks for the support.

Jacob

[EBERLAZARE_I_Intel]

Hi,

Thanks for confirming.