Backtrace while converting sof file to pof file for flash programming

I didn't try. May be it won't work without Quartus. But if you insist, there are situations where you might be able to use tethered mode in production. Any evaluation method always has some risk of ilegal usage.

Anyway, my point is that the idea of not allowing a POF, isn't too smart as a security measure. There are valid evaluation situations, as the case of the OP here, where a POF is needed. And there are invalid uses, even with just a SOF.

Bottom line is that Altera and its Opencore partners, as sellers, probably don't benefit from this.