Ubuntu – How to install Scratch 2 on Ubuntu 16.10. or 17.04 (64bit)

I need to install Adobe Air on Ubuntu 16.10/17.04 with offline Scratch 2. Air is many years unsupported on Linux, so there are several workarounds. One which worked for me up to Ubuntu 16.04 (using Air binary installer):

# install i386 necessary libraries
$ sudo apt-get install libgtk2.0-0:i386 libstdc++6:i386 libxml2:i386 libxslt1.1:i386 libcanberra-gtk-module:i386 gtk2-engines-murrine:i386 libqt4-qt3support:i386 libgnome-keyring0:i386 libnss-mdns:i386 libnss3:i386
# install keyring
$ sudo apt-get install libgnome-keyring0:i386
# make keyring visible for Air
$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgnome-keyring.so.0 /usr/lib/libgnome-keyring.so.0
$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgnome-keyring.so.0.2.0 /usr/lib/libgnome-keyring.so.0.2.0 
# download Adobe Air installer
$ wget  http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/lin/download/2.6/AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
# run it
$ sudo chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
$ sudo ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

but on 16.10/17.4 it ends with installator error:

Adobe AIR could not be installed. Debian tools for creating deb
packages (such as dpkg-deb or ar) were not found on the system.

Which is obviously false error message as dpkg-deb and ar are both installed:

$ dpkg-deb --version
Debian 'dpkg-deb' package management program version 1.18.10 (amd64).
$ ar --version
GNU ar (GNU Binutils for Ubuntu) 2.28

The Adobe Air install log file from /root/.appdata/Adobe/AIR/Logs/Install.log

[setup:2506][INFO] Runtime Installer begin with version 2.6.0.19170 on Linux x86
[setup:2506][INFO] Commandline is: 
[setup:2506][INFO] No installed runtime detected
[setup:2506][INFO] Relaunching with elevation
[setup:2506][INFO] Launching subprocess with commandline /tmp/air.hp19kU/setup -ei
[setup:2525][INFO] Runtime Installer begin with version 2.6.0.19170 on Linux x86
[setup:2525][INFO] Commandline is: -stdio /tmp/air.KWo9tt/channel -ei
[setup:2525][INFO] No installed runtime detected
[setup:2525][INFO] Starting silent runtime install. Installing runtime version 2.6.0.19170
[setup:2525][INFO] Session detected: GNOME
[setup:2525][ERR] Error occurred during rpm create operation; beginning rollback: [ErrorEvent type="error" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="dpkg-query: package 'adobe-certs' is not installed and no information is available;Use dpkg --info (= dpkg-deb --info) to examine archive files,;and dpkg --contents (= dpkg-deb --contents) to list their contents.Could not run the command : ar" errorID=5031]
[setup:2525][INFO] Rollback complete
[setup:2525][ERR] Exiting due to error: [ErrorEvent type="error" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="dpkg-query: package 'adobe-certs' is not installed and no information is available;Use dpkg --info (= dpkg-deb --info) to examine archive files,;and dpkg --contents (= dpkg-deb --contents) to list their contents.Could not run the command : ar" errorID=5031]
[setup:2525][ERR] Runtime Installer end with exit code 7
[setup:2506][ERR] Exiting due to error: [ErrorEvent type="error" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="dpkg-query: package 'adobe-certs' is not installed and no information is available;Use dpkg --info (= dpkg-deb --info) to examine archive files,;and dpkg --contents (= dpkg-deb --contents) to list their contents.Could not run the command : ar" errorID=5031]
[setup:2506][ERR] Runtime Installer end with exit code 7

So I found another way to install an Adobe Air via deb package (I didn't know before):

$ wget http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/lin/download/2.6/adobeair.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i adobeair.deb

And voilà! Adobe Air is installed on Ubuntu 16.10/17.04.
Now install Scratch 2.

# Find the latest Scratch AIR file link from https://scratch.mit.edu/scratch2download/
$ wget https://scratch.mit.edu/scratchr2/static/sa/Scratch-456.0.1.air
$ sudo Adobe\ AIR\ Application\ Installer ./Scratch-456.0.1.air 

and again the same error:

Adobe AIR could not be installed. Debian tools for creating deb
packages (such as dpkg-deb or ar) were not found on the system.

Install.log

[Adobe AIR Application Installer:3197][INFO] Application Installer begin with version 2.6.0.19170 on Linux x86
[Adobe AIR Application Installer:3197][INFO] Commandline is: 
[Adobe AIR Application Installer:3197][INFO] Installed runtime (2.6.0.19170) located at /opt/Adobe AIR
[Adobe AIR Application Installer:3197][INFO] Unpackaging file:///home/administrator/Downloads/Scratch-456.0.1.air to /tmp/FlashTmp.LSCkv7
[Adobe AIR Application Installer:3197][INFO] Application signature verified
[Adobe AIR Application Installer:3197][INFO] Unpackaging/validation complete
[Adobe AIR Application Installer:3197][INFO] No app located for appID 'edu.media.mit.Scratch2Editor' and pubID ''
[Adobe AIR Application Installer:3197][INFO] Converting unpackaged application to a native installation package in /tmp/FlashTmp.RJSwfW
[Adobe AIR Application Installer:3197][ERR] Native installation package creation failed: [ErrorEvent type="error" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="Unhandled exception Error: Error creating the package Could not run the command : ar" errorID=5031]
[Adobe AIR Application Installer:3197][ERR] Application Installer end with exit code 7

Looks like an unmaintained Adobe Air cannot play with new dpkg-deb and ar anymore.

Any hints for offline Scratch 2 on Ubuntu 16.10/17.04?