Intel® FPGA Runtime for OpenCL™ Software Technology

Prerequisites

Linux

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)* or Rocky Linux* 8
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)* or openSUSE Leap* 15
• Ubuntu* 18.04 or 20.04 LTS
• GCC 7.4.0 and higher
• CMake 3.10 and higher
• Ninja 1.8.2 and higher
• Git
• libelf
• zlib (only needed for simulation flow)

Windows

• Windows* 10 (64 bit)
• Windows Server* 2012, 2016, or 2019
• Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC)* 2017 and higher
• CMake 3.10 and higher
• Ninja 1.8.2 and higher
• Git
• Cygwin
• libelf (install with scripts/install_libelf.ps1)
• zlib (only needed for simulation flow, install with scripts/install_zlib.ps1)

Building the Runtime

Build Instructions for Linux and Windows

Perform these steps to build the runtime:

1. Clone and change to the runtime repository.

   git clone https://github.com/intel/fpga-runtime-for-opencl
   cd fpga-runtime-for-opencl
   

2. Switch to the latest release version.

   git checkout v2022.2
   

3. Create and change to the runtime build directory.

   mkdir build
   cd build
   

4. Generate the Ninja build files using the cmake command.

   cmake -G Ninja .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../install
   

5. Build the runtime.

   ninja
   

6. Install the runtime to the runtime installation directory.

   ninja install
   

Build Options

• Build without debugging symbols and with optimization.

  cmake -G Ninja .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../install
  

• Build with debugging symbols and without optimization.

  cmake -G Ninja .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../install
  

• Use GCC as the compiler instead of the system default (for Linux only).

  CC=gcc CXX=g++ cmake -G Ninja .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../install
  

• Specify installation paths to libelf and zlib (for Windows only).

  cmake -G Ninja .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=C:\libelf;C:\zlib -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../install
  

  Alternatively, specify header and library directories explicitly.

  cmake -G Ninja .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH=C:\libelf\include;C:\zlib\include -DCMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH=C:\libelf\lib;C:\zlib\lib -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../install
  

Running Unit Tests

To run unit tests, execute the following command in the runtime build directory:

ctest -V

Notes

• To run unit tests, you need the aoc executable from the IntelⓇ FPGA SDK for OpenCL™.

  To set the path to aoc, change to the IntelⓇ FPGA SDK for OpenCL™ installation directory and source the initialization script.

  • On Linux:

    source init_opencl.sh
    

  • On Windows:

    call init_opencl.bat
    

• On Linux, aoc requires the libtinfo.so.5 library, which you can install using one of the following OS-specific commands:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)* or Rocky Linux* 8:

    sudo yum install ncurses-compat-libs-6.1
    

  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)* or openSUSE Leap* 15:

    sudo zypper install libncurses5
    

  • Ubuntu* 18.04 or 20.04 LTS:

    sudo apt install libtinfo5
    

• On Windows, you need to set the paths to the libelf and (optionally) zlib libraries.

  set PATH=C:\libelf\lib;C:\zlib\lib;%PATH%
  

• Running unit tests is not supported for ARM cross compilation.

• To run unit tests individually, first set the board package directory:

  export AOCL_BOARD_PACKAGE_ROOT="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/test/board/a10_ref"
  

  Switch to the directory containing the test executable:

  cd build/test
  

  Run the tests whose group and name contain the given substrings:

  ./acl_test -v -g acl_mem -n create_buffer
  

Using the Runtime

With IntelⓇ FPGA SDK for OpenCL™ or IntelⓇ FPGA RTE for OpenCL™

Perform these steps if you have the IntelⓇ FPGA SDK for OpenCL™ or IntelⓇ FPGA RTE for OpenCL™ installed on your system:

1. In the IntelⓇ FPGA SDK for OpenCL™ installation directory, source the initialization script (see Running Unit Tests).

2. Update the /etc/OpenCL/vendors/Altera.icd file with the full path to the libalteracl.so library in the runtime installation directory.

3. Compile your OpenCL host program with the OpenCL header files included from the runtime installation directory.

   -Ifpga-runtime-for-opencl/install/include
   

4. Link your OpenCL host program with the libOpenCL.so library from the IntelⓇ FPGA SDK for OpenCL™ installation directory.

   -L$INTELFPGAOCLSDKROOT/host/linux64/lib -lOpenCL
   

5. Run your OpenCL host program.

Without IntelⓇ FPGA SDK for OpenCL™ or IntelⓇ FPGA RTE for OpenCL™

Perform these steps if you do not have the IntelⓇ FPGA SDK for OpenCL™ or IntelⓇ FPGA RTE for OpenCL™ installed on your system:

1. Download, build, and install the OpenCL ICD Loader.

2. Create the /etc/OpenCL/vendors/Altera.icd file with the full path to the libalteracl.so library in the runtime installation directory.

3. Compile your OpenCL host program with the OpenCL header files included from the runtime installation directory.

   -Ifpga-runtime-for-opencl/install/include
   

4. Link your OpenCL host program with the libOpenCL.so library from the OpenCL ICD Loader.

   -lOpenCL
   

5. Run your OpenCL host program.