2.4. Installing the Intel HLS Compiler Pro Edition on Linux Systems - 2025-12-15

Altera High Level Synthesis Compiler Pro Edition Getting Started Guide
Version
24.1

You must have administrator privileges to install the Intel® HLS Compiler Pro Edition prerequisites. However, the Intel® HLS Compiler and Quartus® Prime do not require administrator privileges to install.

To install the Intel® HLS Compiler on Linux Systems:

  1. Confirm that your operating system version is supported by the Intel® HLS Compiler:
    • Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 8.2
      Ensure that you have the following libraries installed:
      • libsnl
      • ncurses-compat-libs
    • SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server 12
  2. Depending on your current system and what installation package or packages you have downloaded, you might have to complete some additional steps to prepare your installation:
    Only Intel® HLS Compiler Installation Package
    If you downloaded only the the Intel® HLS Compiler installation package for upgrading (or adding) the Intel® HLS Compiler in an existing Quartus® Prime installation:
    1. Ensure that you have Quartus® Prime already installed.
    2. Take note of the path to your Quartus® Prime installation.

      You need this path information to complete the Intel® HLS Compiler installation wizard.

    3. If you are upgrading your Intel® HLS Compiler installation, rename the existing HLS directory in your current Quartus® Prime version to keep that version as a backup.

      For example, if you are installing Intel® HLS Compiler Version 24.1 into an Quartus® Prime Pro Edition Version 23.4 installation, rename /home/<username>/intelFPGA_pro/23.4/hls to /home/<username>/intelFPGA_pro/23.4/hls_old.

    Separate Quartus® Prime and Intel® HLS Compiler Installation Packages
    If you are installing separately downloaded Quartus® Prime (from Individual Files tab of the Quartus Prime download page at the Download Center for FPGAs) and Intel® HLS Compiler (from Additional Software tab of the Quartus Prime download page at the Download Center for FPGAs) installation packages:

    Ensure that you have both installation packages in the same directory. The Quartus® Prime installer detects the Intel® HLS Compiler installation package and installs both software packages for you.

    Combined Installation Package
    If you are installing the complete Quartus® Prime and Intel® HLS Compiler installation package (from the Combined Files tab of the Quartus Prime download page at the Download Center for FPGAs), no additional steps are needed before running the installation package.
  3. Install the package that you downloaded in Downloading the Intel HLS Compiler Pro Edition .

    For the standalone Intel® HLS Compiler installation package, you are asked to specify the path of the destination Quartus® Prime installation.

    For detailed instructions about installing Quartus® Prime software, including system requirements, prerequisites, and licensing requirements, refer to Intel® FPGA Software Installation and Licensing .

  4. If you use the Siemens® EDA QuestaSim® software provided with Quartus® Prime, add the path to QuestaSim® to your PATH environment variable
    For example:
    $ export PATH=$PATH:<quartus_installdir>/questa_fse/bin
  5. Optional: If you plan to use Platform Designer to integrate your component with a system, add the path to Platform Designer to your PATH environment variable.
    For example:
    $ export PATH=$PATH:<quartus_installdir>/qsys/bin

After completing these steps, the Intel® HLS Compiler is installed on your system. Before you can compile your component with the Intel® HLS Compiler i++ command, you must initialize your Intel® HLS Compiler environment for the i++ command to run successfully. For details, see Initializing the Intel HLS Compiler Pro Edition Environment .

Important: The Intel® HLS Compiler uses the <quartus_installdir>/gcc as its toolchain directory. Use this installation of GCC for all your HLS-related design work.