Cisco Packet Tracer on Fedora

These notes document a working way to install Cisco Packet Tracer on Fedora using the .deb package provided by Cisco NetAcad / Skills for All.

This method is based on unpacking the Ubuntu installer and copying the Packet Tracer files into /opt/pt.

Trust caveat

This workflow is reasonable for a personal lab if the installer comes directly from Cisco, but it is not a zero-trust install path.

The script below does all of the following:

• installs Fedora packages with sudo dnf
• extracts the Cisco .deb
• copies files into /opt
• runs the vendor postinst script as root
• runs Packet Tracer activation as the target user

Only use it with a .deb you downloaded from Cisco:

• https://www.netacad.com/portal/resources/packet-tracer
• https://skillsforall.com/resources/lab-downloads

Prerequisites

Download the current Packet Tracer Linux .deb from Cisco first. The script searches for installers matching names such as:

CiscoPacketTracer_<version>_Ubuntu_64bit.deb

Install steps

Save the script as setup.sh, make it executable, and run it:

chmod +x setup.sh
./setup.sh

If your installer is not under your home directory, point the script at a specific folder:

./setup.sh --directory /path/to/downloads

To remove Packet Tracer later:

./setup.sh --uninstall

Script

#!/bin/bash
 
set -euo pipefail
 
Red="\033[0;31m"
Bold="\033[1m"
Color_Off="\033[0m"
Cyan="\033[0;36m"
Green="\033[0;32m"
 
user_name="${SUDO_USER:-$(id -un)}"
user_home="$(getent passwd "$user_name" | cut -d: -f6)"
if [[ -z "$user_home" ]]; then
  echo "Could not determine home directory for user: $user_name"
  exit 1
fi
installer_search_path="${user_home:-$HOME}"
work_dir=""
 
USAGE_MESSAGE="Usage: $0 [OPTIONS]... [DIRECTORY]...
Install Cisco Packet Tracer latest version on Fedora Linux using
.deb provided by Cisco. To download the installer, access this link:
<https://www.netacad.com/portal/resources/packet-tracer>
 
 -d, --directory         Directory where is the installer
 -h, --help              Show this help message and exit
 --uninstall             Uninstall Cisco Packet Tracer
"
 
cleanup() {
  if [[ -n "$work_dir" && -d "$work_dir" ]]; then
    rm -rf "$work_dir"
  fi
}
 
trap cleanup EXIT
 
run_optional_command() {
  local cmd="$1"
  shift
 
  if command -v "$cmd" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    sudo "$cmd" "$@"
  fi
}
 
remove_desktop_entries() {
  local desktop_files=()
 
  shopt -s nullglob
  desktop_files=(/usr/share/applications/cisco-pt*.desktop)
  shopt -u nullglob
 
  if command -v xdg-desktop-menu >/dev/null 2>&1 && ((${#desktop_files[@]} > 0)); then
    sudo xdg-desktop-menu uninstall "${desktop_files[@]}"
  fi
}
 
resolve_installer() {
  if [[ ! -f "$selected_installer" ]]; then
    echo -e "${Red}${Bold}Installer not found: $selected_installer${Color_Off}"
    exit 1
  fi
}
 
install () {
  resolve_installer
 
  echo "Extracting files"
  echo "Installing dependencies"
  sudo dnf -y install binutils fuse fuse-libs qt5-qttools
  mkdir -p "$user_home/.local/share/applications"
 
  work_dir="$(mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/packettracer.XXXXXX")"
  ar -x "$selected_installer" --output="$work_dir"
  tar -xvf "$work_dir/control.tar.xz" --directory="$work_dir"
  tar -xvf "$work_dir/data.tar.xz" --directory="$work_dir"
  sudo cp -r "$work_dir/opt" /
  sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
  sudo ln -sf /opt/pt/packettracer.AppImage /usr/local/bin/packettracer
  sudo -u "$user_name" /usr/local/bin/packettracer --pt-activate
  sudo "$work_dir/postinst"
  remove_desktop_entries
  run_optional_command update-mime-database /usr/share/mime
  run_optional_command gtk-update-icon-cache -t --force /usr/share/icons
  exit
}
 
uninstall () {
    if [ -e /opt/pt ]; then
      echo "Uninstalling Cisco Packet Tracer."
      if [[ -x /usr/local/bin/packettracer ]]; then
        sudo -u "$user_name" /usr/local/bin/packettracer --pt-deactivate || true
      fi
      sudo rm -rf /opt/pt /usr/local/share/applications/CiscoPacketTracer*.desktop "$user_home/.local/share/applications"/CiscoPacketTracer*.desktop "$user_home/.local/share/mime/packages"/cisco-pk*.xml
      remove_desktop_entries
      run_optional_command update-mime-database /usr/share/mime
      run_optional_command gtk-update-icon-cache -t --force /usr/share/icons
 
      sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/packettracer
    fi
    echo "Cisco Packet Tracer was uninstalled."
    sleep 3
}
 
locate_installers () {
  localized_installers=()
  selected_installer=''
 
  echo -e "${Green}${Bold}Searching for installers in user home...${Color_Off}\n"
  mapfile -d '' localized_installers < <(
    find "$installer_search_path" -type f \
      \( -name "Cisco*Packet*.deb" -o -name "Packet*Tracer*.deb" -o -name "CiscoPacketTracer_900_Ubuntu_64bit.deb" \) \
      -print0
  )
 
  clear
 
  if ((${#localized_installers[@]} == 0)); then
    echo -e "\n${Red}${Bold}Packet Tracer installer not found in ${installer_search_path}."
    echo -e "Expected filename pattern: ${Bold}CiscoPacketTracer_<version>_Ubuntu_64bit.deb"
    echo -e "For example: ${Bold}CiscoPacketTracer_900_Ubuntu_64bit.deb${Color_Off}\n"
    echo -e "You can download the installer from ${Cyan}https://www.netacad.com/portal/resources/packet-tracer${Color_Off} \
  or ${Cyan}https://skillsforall.com/resources/lab-downloads${Color_Off} (login required)."
    exit 1
  elif [ "${#localized_installers[@]}" -eq 1 ]; then
    selected_installer="${localized_installers[0]}"
  else
    echo -e "${Red}${Bold}Press CTRL + C to cancel installation.${Color_Off}\n"
    echo -e "${Cyan}${Bold}${#localized_installers[@]} installers of Cisco Packet Tracer were found:${Color_Off}\n"
 
    PS3="Select a installer to use: "
 
    select installer in "${localized_installers[@]}"
    do
      if [[ -n "${installer:-}" ]]; then
        selected_installer="$installer"
        break
      fi
      echo "Invalid selection."
    done
 
    if [[ -z "$selected_installer" ]]; then
      echo "No installer selected."
      exit 1
    fi
  fi
 
  echo -e "\n${Bold}Selected installer: ${Red}${Bold}$selected_installer ${Color_Off}\n"
 
  sleep 3
  echo "Removing old version of Packet Tracer from /opt/pt"
  uninstall
  install
}
 
case "${1:-}" in
    -h | --help)
        echo "$USAGE_MESSAGE"
        exit 0
    ;;
 
    -d | --directory)
        if [[ -z "${2:-}" ]]; then
          echo "$USAGE_MESSAGE"
          exit 1
        fi
        installer_search_path="$2"
        echo -e "A directory was especified for search the installer: ${Bold}$installer_search_path${Color_Off}"
        sleep 3
        locate_installers
    ;;
 
    --uninstall)
        uninstall
    ;;
 
esac
 
if [ "${1:-}" = "" ]
then locate_installers
fi

Notes

• The script expects a Cisco-provided Linux .deb, not an RPM.
• The install path ends up under /opt/pt.
• A symlink is created at /usr/local/bin/packettracer.
• If Cisco changes the package layout in a future release, this may need adjustment.