Shinyspace

install Cisco Secure Client from deb

2026-06-03

In my company, Cisco's website offers 2 downloads for Secure Client: a .deb and a .rpm. Archlinux can't use either of them directly, so:

We check the AUR for a package - it exists and works, but downloads the package from a third party.

Changing it to meet our needs, we roughly do:

• download the .deb package (manually), place it in proper directory
• unpack it with "ar xv cisco-secure-client-vpn_5.1.17.3394_amd64.deb"
• extract data.tar.zsd (or .xt): bsdtar -xf data.tar.zst -C "$pkgdir/"
• move /lib to /usr: mv -f "$pkgdir/lib" "$pkgdir/usr"

then we can install that package with makepkg -si. it may require extra dependencies like gtk3 and webkit2gtk (current official package is webkit2gtk-4.1)

UPDATING:

• download the new .deb file, note it's version
• update the pkgver to the new version
• makepkg -si

if it doesn't work: make sure deps are installed, maybe update webkit2gtk version.

here's the PKGBUILD with my modifications:

# Note: After installation must me enabled service 'sudo systemctl enable --now vpnagentd.service'
pkgname=cisco-secure-client-custom
pkgver=5.1.17.3394
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc='Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client'
url='https://www.cisco.com/site/us/en/products/security/secure-client/index.html'
arch=('x86_64')
depends=('libxml2-legacy' 'ca-certificates' 'gtk3' 'webkit2gtk-4.1')
optdepends=(
    'hicolor-icon-theme: required by desktop shortcuts'
    'glib2: required by vpnui'
    'gtk3: required by vpnui'
    'webkit2gtk: required by acwebhelper'
)
conflicts=('cisco-anyconnect' 'cisco-secure-client')
license=('custom')

# skip stripping the binaries to pass integrity check inside vpnagentd
options=('!strip')

source=(
	"cisco-secure-client-vpn_${pkgver}_amd64.deb"
)

sha256sums=('SKIP')

prepare() {
    cd "$srcdir"
    ar xv "cisco-secure-client-vpn_${pkgver}_amd64.deb"
}

package() {
    if [ -f "$srcdir"/data.tar.zst ]; then
        bsdtar -xf "$srcdir"/data.tar.zst -C "$pkgdir/"
    else
        bsdtar -xf "$srcdir"/data.tar.xz -C "$pkgdir/"
    fi

    mv -f "$pkgdir/lib" "$pkgdir/usr"
}