Autodesk officially only supports Fedora/RedHat. This is probably due to legacy reasons, since larger Corporations were using RedHat. There is an official documentation how to install Maya on Fedora link

However Ubuntu (based on Debian) has become very popular. (As Alternative you also could use Elementary, Mint etc.) We will take a look on how to install Maya 2017 (Student Version) on Ubuntu via the Command Line.

tl:dr: The final bash script can be found here

Quick Install Script:

wget https://gist.githubusercontent.com/borgfriend/b83467639cb8039dc79974bf780a4994/raw/d8387aeba14f05461a0d14a63a343b6b9bb8089b/maya2017install.sh
sudo chmod +x maya2017install.sh
sudo ./maya2017install.sh

You will manually have to remove the installation files.

Step 1: Download Maya

mkdir maya2017Install
cd maya2017Install
wget http://edutrial.autodesk.com/NET17SWDLD/2017/MAYA/ESD/Autodesk_Maya_2017_EN_JP_ZH_Linux_64bit.tgz
tar xvf Autodesk_Maya_2017_EN_JP_ZH_Linux_64bit.tgz

If you download a Studentversion of Maya it will provide you with a download link. You can change this to whatever Version of Maya you would like to install. Autodesk Students

Step 2: Install Dependencies

apt-get install -y gcc libssl1.0.0 libssl-dev libjpeg62 alien csh tcsh libaudiofile-dev libglw1-mesa elfutils libglw1-mesa-dev mesa-utils xfstt ttf-liberation xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi ttf-mscorefonts-installer libfam0 libfam-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0
wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/183708483/libxp6_1.0.2-2_amd64.deb
dpkg -i libxp6_1.0.2-2_amd64.deb

The dependencies list is partly based on the Additional Installation Notes for Linux

And my previous Installation Script for Maya 2014

The package libxp6 was removed in Ubuntu 15. If you are running an older version of Ubuntu you could directly install it via apt.

Step 3: Convert .rpm files into .deb files

alien -cv *.rpm

Step 4: Install Maya

dpkg -i *.deb
echo "int main (void) {return 0;}" > mayainstall.c
gcc mayainstall.c
mv /usr/bin/rpm /usr/bin/rpm_backup
cp a.out /usr/bin/rpm
chmod +x ./setup
./setup
rm /usr/bin/rpm
mv /usr/bin/rpm_backup /usr/bin/rpm

The whole mucking about replacing the /usr/bin/rpm is that the fedora installer can finish installing without errors.

In the Fedora Installer you will need to enter your licence details.

Step 4: Fix Startup Problems

ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtiff.so.5.2.4 /usr/lib/libtiff.so.3
ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libssl.so /usr/autodesk/maya2017/lib/libssl.so.10
ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcrypto.so /usr/autodesk/maya2017/lib/libcrypto.so.10

chmod 777 /usr/tmp

Initially Maya will not start because it cannot find various libraries. Depending on which version is installed on your system you need to adjust these lines to reflect your version.

Step 5: Fix Segmentation Error

You will run into following Error:

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::logic_error'
what(): basic_string::_S_construct null not valid
Stack trace:
gsignal
abort
__gnu_cxx::__verbose_terminate_handler()
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6(+0x8d6b6) [0x7f6f62d536b6]
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6(+0x8d701) [0x7f6f62d53701]
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6(+0x8d919) [0x7f6f62d53919]
std::__throw_logic_error(char const*)
char* std::string::_S_construct(char const*, char const*, std::allocator const&, std::forward_iterator_tag)
std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits, std::allocator >::basic_string(char const*, std::allocator const&)
/usr/autodesk/maya2017/lib/libMC3.so.9(+0x25d9f) [0x7f6f5de25d9f]
/usr/autodesk/maya2017/lib/libMC3.so.9(+0x83b10) [0x7f6f5de83b10]
CMLFacade::Initialize(CMLWaypoint*, wchar_t const*, wchar_t const*, int, unsigned int, long long, long long, wchar_t const*, bool)
CMLFacade::Initialize(CMLWaypoint*, wchar_t const*, wchar_t const*, int, unsigned int, long long, long long, wchar_t const*)
TCIPClient::initialize()
TCIPClient::TCIPClient()
TCIPClient::theOne()
TbaseApp::cipReportStartup()
TbaseApp::initGeneral()
/usr/autodesk/maya2017/bin/maya.bin() [0x416232]
Tapplication::start()
/usr/autodesk/maya2017/bin/maya.bin() [0x40ee50]
main
__libc_start_main
/usr/autodesk/maya2017/bin/maya.bin() [0x40e6ed]

Segmentation fault (core dumped)

This can be fixed by Disabling the Customer Improvement Program. To disable it add MAYA_DISABLE_CIP=1 line to your Maya.env file. Bash:

echo "MAYA_DISABLE_CIP=1" >> ~/maya/2017/Maya.env

Step 6: Color Management Errors / Single Matrix no inverse exists

Maya will start, and may or may not show the render view. You will also run into 6-7 Errors “Single Matrix no inverse Exists”

To fix this, add “LC_ALL=C” to your Maya.env. Bash:

echo "LC_ALL=C" >> ~/maya/2017/Maya.env

Step 7: Alt Key for Camera Movement

Use this line to use the ALT-Key instead of the “Windows”-Key for modifying the Camera:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences mouse-button-modifier ""

Final Script: