Translation(s): English - Français - 简体中文 - Русский


Vendor:

skype.com

License:

non-free
(copyright.txt)

X-(

quality:

Version reviewed: 8.x

Download

unsigned .deb

X-(

Source:

not-available

X-(

Lintian:

minor errors

(./)

Control scripts

none

(./)

Languages:

All

(./)

Architectures:

amd64

-

Legend: (./) = Pass ; X-( = Bad

Skype is non-free, proprietary, closed source software, owned by a for profit corporation and not supported by Debian. Have you considered using a free and open source alternative, which is community-owned and supported by Debian, such as VoIP Ekiga, Linphone, Jami, or Jitsi? See also UnifiedCommunications

Skype logo

Skype is software that allows users to make phone or video calls over the Internet, as well as screen sharing. User-to-user calls are free, while calls to landlines and mobile phones are charged. There are additional features like instant messaging, file transfer and video conferencing.

Skype Web

<!> As of December 2016 Skype Web works on Debian Jessie and Stretch, including conference calls, except for video. Voice calls work on chromium, not firefox-esr.

https://web.skype.com is in Beta. You can use Skype Web on Debian to chat with your Skype contacts though. Assumes you use a modern Debian web browser such as firefox-esr (for text chat) of chromium (for voice calls).

It is easy to get started without any installation when using a separate Chromium profile for Skype by creating this skypeweb.desktop file:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Skype Web
Comment=Skype Web application in a Chromium profile
Exec=sh -c "mkdir -p $HOME/.local/share/skypeweb && GDK_BACKEND=x11 chromium --user-data-dir=$HOME/.local/share/skypeweb https://web.skype.com 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null &"
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Categories=Network;Application;

Related pages and sources

Installation instructions for Skype 8.x

To install Skype 8 choose one of the following sections depending on your Debian version.

Debian 11 "Bullseye"

64 bits/amd64

  1. Download the Skype for Linux DEB.

    wget https://go.skype.com/skypeforlinux-64.deb
  1. Install.

    sudo apt install ./skypeforlinux-64.deb

Note: Run this in the directory where the skypeforlinux-64.deb is located.

Debian 10 "Buster"

64 bits/amd64

  1. Download the Skype for Linux DEB.

    wget https://go.skype.com/skypeforlinux-64.deb
  1. Install.

    sudo apt install ./skypeforlinux-64.deb

Note: Run this in the directory where the skypeforlinux-64.deb is located.

Debian 9 "Stretch"

64 bits/amd64

Steps to install Skype 8 on Debian 9 "Stretch" at 64 bits/amd64

  1. If not already done, using Terminal as user, run the following command to install sudo and gdebi packages

    su

then

    apt-get install sudo gdebi
  1. Using your favorite browser such as Firefox go to https://www.skype.com/en/get-skype/ to download Skype 8 installer skypeforlinux-64.deb file

  2. Using Terminal as user, run the following command to install Skype 8

    sudo gdebi /path/to/skypeforlinux-64.deb
  1. Skype 8 is now installed. The executable is named skypeforlinux.

Alternative Installation

In Debian 9 a .deb file can simply be installed with the help of a terminal by using the following command. All dependencies will be handled by the apt package manager.

    sudo apt install /path/to/skypeforlinux.deb

Frequently Ask Questions (F.A.Q.) for Stretch 64 bits

Q: When I open Skype it has a blank GUI.

A: Multiple users report that the skypeforlinux 8.9.0.1 package released on Skype's APT server on 31st October 2017 has a blank GUI after signing in, and is unusable. See the Microsoft support page.

Skype 8 broken

[This issue does not affect everyone, for me Skype 8.x functions perfectly on Debian 9 under GNOME 3]

Discuss edits to this wiki.debian.org page

To discuss edits to this wiki.debian.org page all contributors are welcome to join the discussion by sending an email to this email address with this subject line. To keep all in the communication loops, do not modify your email subject line. As it is unique to this wiki page. Note that that email discussion is hosted publicly on the debian-doc mailing list.

If you are not familiar with Debian mailing lists visit the introduction page. Or that related page.