How to install Modelsim 10.2b under Fedora 21/22

If you want to use the latest Modelsim versions under Fedora 21, you may experience some problems. I’ll show you how to get rid of these problems to run successfully Modelsim. This tutorial is done initially under Fedora 21, but will also work under Fedora 22.

The version I use is 10.2b and I used it successfully without any hacking under Fedora 19. Recently, I upgraded my Fedora to the latest one (Fedora 21) and I found some problems that I hadn’t before.

First of all, Modelsim that always worked as a charm (for me of course!) under Fedora wouldn’t start anymore after Fedora upgrade. More precisely, it would start without GUI, using option vsim -c but not correctly with GUI. The problem is in freetype library which is in the latest Fedora too recent for Modelsim software. If you want to use Modelsim, you have to manage to install less recent versions of freetype library. If you want to not mess up with already installed libraries, you have to install it locally. This is the way I’ve done it on my Fedora!

You need to download a version of freetype library which is supported in Modelsim. I downloaded freetype-2.4.7 package and I installed it locally (not in the default location which is /usr/local/lib) to avoid potential conflicts between the freetype library coming by default with Fedora 21.

All you have to do is to add this freshly installed library to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH. That’s it! Your Modelsim should work now under Fedora 21 without issues!

PS. Another problem you may have if you install Modelsim under Fedora is the startup linux version checking. To deactivate this option (and to get work you Modelsim) you have to set the environment variable MTI_BYPASS_SC_CHECK as follows in your .bashrc file

export MTI_BYPASS_SC_PLATFORM_CHECK=1