Altera Quartus II Scripting - Manual (Page 126)

2–100 Chapter 2: Command-line Executables
Settings File Options
Quartus II Scripting Reference Manual © July 2013 Altera Corporation
--write_settings_files[=on|off]
Overview
Option to write out the settings obtained from command-line options to the Quartus II Settings File (.qsf).
By default, assignments are written to the QSF unless you specify "--write_settings_files=off".
Command-Line Option Details
Command-line options are provided for making many common global project settings and performing
common tasks. You can use either of two methods to make assignments to an individual entity. If the
project exists, open the project in the Quartus II GUI, change the assignment, and close the project. The
changed assignment is updated in the QSF. Any command-line executables that are run after this update
use the updated assignment. See "Option Precedence" below for more information. You can also make
assignments using the Quartus II Tcl scripting API. To completely script the creation of a Quartus II
project, choose this method.
Option Precedence
If you are using the command-line executables, you need to be aware of the precedence of various project
assignments and how to control the precedence. You can find ssignments for a particular project exist in
the QSF for the project. You can also make assignments for a project by using command-line options, as
described earlier. Project assignments are reflected in compiler database files that hold intermediate
compilation results and reflect assignments made in the previous project compilation.
All command-line options override any conflicting assignments found in the QSF or the compiler database
files. There are two command-line options to specify whether QSF or compiler database files take
precedence for any assignments not specified as command-line options.
Note: Any assignment not specified as a command-line option or found in the QSF or compiler database
files is set to its Quartus II software default value.
The file precedence command-line options are --read_settings_files and --write_settings_files. By default,
the --read_settings_files and --write_settings_files options are turned on. Turning on the
--read_settings_files option causes a command-line executable to read assignments from the QSF instead
of from the compiler database files. Turning on the --write_settings_files option causes a command-line
executable to update the QSF to reflect any specified options, as happens when closing a project in the
Quartus II GUI.
Table 2–3 lists the precedence for reading assignments depending on the value of the --read_settings_files
option.
Table 2–4 lists the locations to which assignments are written, depending on the value of the
--write_settings_files command-line option.
Table 2–3. Precedence for Reading Assignments
Option Specified Precedence for Reading Assignments
--import_settings_files=on (Default) 1. Command-line options
2. Quartus II Settings File (QSF)
3. Compiler database (db directory, if it exists)
4. Quartus II software defaults
--import_settings_files=off 1. Quartus II Settings File (QSF)
2. Compiler database (db directory, if it exists)
3. Quartus II software defaults