unable to upgrade skype on linux mint 11 kayta x64

[dhdurgee]

I had a functional skype 4.0.0.8 installed here until skype pulled the plug a few days ago. Since that point I have been trying without success to upgrade.

I believe the problem is that skype has changed their approach with the new package to have a small amd64 one, skype, dependent on a large i386 one, skype-bin that is designed for multiarch support. Unfortunately the package manager for some reason is refusing to even see the skype-bin package. Searching the web on this topic and attempting to deal with it I located the deb packages on cannonical and downloaded them to my system, where I placed them in a local repository following the directions from here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Personal.

When that was insufficient, I checked further on the multiarch approach here: https://wiki.debian.org/Multiarch/HOWTO

This lead me to add [arch=amd64,i386] to my deb line for my local repository, but even that does not do the job.

The multiarch wiki indicates that support started with Ubuntu natty, which is the basis for mint katya, so that should not be the problem. For some reason the skype-bin package is not being seen. If I go to a terminal window and check with apt directly, I get:

dhdurgee@DHD-Z560 ~ $ apt-cache showpkg skype-bin
Package: skype-bin
Versions:

Reverse Depends:
skype,skype-bin
Dependencies:
Provides:
Reverse Provides:

If I attempt a command line install I get:

dhdurgee@DHD-Z560 ~ $ sudo apt-get install skype-bin
[sudo] password for dhdurgee:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package skype-bin is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'skype-bin' has no installation candidate

Yet in the Packages.gz file in my local repository I see:

Package: skype-bin
Source: skype
Version: 4.3.0.37-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
Architecture: i386
Maintainer: Steve Langasek <steve.langasek@canonical.com>
Installed-Size: 43366
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.7), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1), libqt4-dbus (>= 4:4.5.3), libqt4-network (>= 4:4.8.0), libqt4-xml (>= 4:4.5.3), libqtcore4 (>= 4:4.7.0~beta1), libqtgui4 (>= 4:4.8.0), libqtwebkit4 (>= 2.2~2011week36), libstdc++6 (>= 4.2.1), libx11-6, libxext6, libxss1, libxv1, libssl1.0.0, libgl1-mesa-glx
Recommends: sni-qt, libasound2-plugins
Conflicts: skype-common, skype-mid
Breaks: skype (<< 4.1.0.20.0-0ubuntu0.12.04.1)
Replaces: skype (<< 4.1.0.20.0-0ubuntu0.12.04.1), skype-common, skype-mid
Filename: ./skype-bin_4.3.0.37-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_i386.deb
Size: 20114526
MD5sum: 8ae1528e3f8af18178ade0645d8ea048
SHA1: 4cf3720fb78f72d6654344486efd21949806b10b
SHA256: 6d66704473ae243551286a9666973348648a6728dbfaeead13fd9b9a54bc9aa0
Section: partner/net
Priority: extra
Multi-Arch: foreign
Homepage: http://www.skype.com
Description: client for Skype VOIP and instant messaging service - binary files
Skype is software that enables the world's conversations. Millions of
individuals and businesses use Skype to make free video and voice calls,
send instant messages and share files with other Skype users. Every day,
people also use Skype to make low-cost calls to landlines and mobiles.
.
* Make free Skype-to-Skype calls to anyone else, anywhere in the world.
* Call to landlines and mobiles at great rates.
* Group chat with up to 200 people or conference call with up to 25 others.
* Free to download.
.
This package contains the binary data.


So for some reason apt-get update is failing to incorporate this package in its listings.

How do I get this package installed? I was annoyed a few days ago when I was unable to skype and see my new grandson, so I want the opportunity to do so in the near future. Given I will be on the road starting tuesday, I would like to get this fixed quickly.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can offer me. Please don't waste time suggesting I upgrade to a later mint release, there are reasons I have not done so on this machine.

Dave

[PatH57]

Please don't waste time suggesting I upgrade to a later mint release, there are reasons I have not done so on this machine.

well in this case you won't be able to install using apt-get as the repos for your mint are off line (so dependencies can't be fixed) and because of security changes in skype it won't let you install it on an OS that has these security holes anyway.

[killer de bug]

Please don't waste time suggesting I upgrade to a later mint release, there are reasons I have not done so on this machine.

Well, please don't waste time of forum members, asking question about new software on old and unsupported releases. That's non sense.

It is obvious that your system don't support the newest lib needed to install Skype 4.3. Period. Upgrade or use an other software than Skype.

[dhdurgee]

As I have another mint system running maya x64 I decided to see if that one had problems with the new skype as well. I found that it installed there fine and works, but this is of limited use to me as that system is a desktop in my office. Looking further at the multiarch wiki lead me to compare dpkg configurations between maya which worked and katya which did not. I noticed a file in maya, /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/multiarch, that was missing from katya. I copied this file over and again ran apt-get update.

This did change the behavior of package manager, it now sees the skype-bin package and offers to install skype 4.3 if I want. Unfortunately it also notes that if I do so it will have to remove about half the other packages I use every day on my system! This is not a viable option for me.

Given the lack of useful suggestions thus far, I am looking into the possibility of running skype 4.3 in W7 running in virtualbox. At this point I have managed to install it there, but while skype is able to find and use my audio output it is not seeing either my microphone or webcam in w7.

I will continue to keep an eye on this thread in case someone has a useful suggestion, but I am going to see if I can find anything about the missing functions in w7 in virtualbox as an alternative plan.

Dave

[killer de bug]

This did change the behavior of package manager, it now sees the skype-bin package and offers to install skype 4.3 if I want. Unfortunately it also notes that if I do so it will have to remove about half the other packages I use every day on my system! This is not a viable option for me.

Explanation for this behavior is given in the previous 2 posts...

[Monsta]

Go to the official download page, choose "Ubuntu 10.04 32-bit" in the drop-down list, download, install via gdebi-gtk.

[PatH57]

@Monsta,

didn't know you were fluent in Russian?

[Monsta]

Oh, it got into the link ok, removed "ru" to reduce confusion. Damn those auto-detections

[dhdurgee]

As a follow-up post, I was able to get Skype running acceptably in w7 in vb on the system. So at least I have a temporary work-around for this problem.

I do plan to look into upgrading this system at some point, but at least I have a fall-back until I can do so. I have downloaded and burned the LTS DVD and will prepare to use it for this purpose in the future.

Dave