Install Cisco Packet Tracer on Alpine Linux

# Introduction

Since Alpine Linux is uses musl instead of glibc, it is not possible to install Cisco Packet Tracer natively, nor when using a compatibility layer like gcompat. In this guide, you will it install using distrobox.

# Installation

# Download Cisco Packet Tracer

Get Cisco Packet Tracer from www.netacad.com/resources/lab-downloads (Login Required) and download the .deb file.

# Prerequisites

Install the required packages:

doas apk add distrobox sudo 

# Setup podman

Enable the cgroups¹ service:

rc-update add cgroups
rc-service cgroups start

To run podman in rootless mode², run the following commands. Replace <USER> with your username:

modprobe tun
echo tun >>/etc/modules
echo <USER>:100000:65536 >/etc/subuid
echo <USER>:100000:65536 >/etc/subgid

Restart your machine.

# Setup distrobox

Create a debian container³:

distrobox-create --name debian13 --image debian:13
distrobox enter debian13

# Install Cisco Packet Tracer

In distrobox terminal:

sudo apt update

Install the required dependencies⁴:

sudo apt install fuse libopengl0 libnss3 libpulse0 libqt5multimedia5 libqt5xml5 libqt5script5 libqt5scripttools5 libqt5sql5 

Go to the folder where you downloaded the .deb file earlier and install the package:

sudo apt install ./CiscoPacketTracer_900_Ubuntu_64bit.deb

After the installation is complete, export packettracer so you can launch it from Alpine:

distrobox-export --bin /usr/local/bin/packettracer --export-path ~/.local/bin/

Run packettracer and open Advanced Settings. Tick Use internal web browser for Cisco Networking Academy login. Log in. Now Packet Tracer is ready to use :)