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

Skype Web

As of December 2016 Skype Web works on Debian Jessie, including for 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

• http://community.skype.com/t5/Skype-for-Web-Beta/quot-Sorry-Skype-for-Web-Beta-isn-t-available-on-this-device-yet/m-p/4020672/highlight/true#M266

• http://community.skype.com/t5/Skype-for-Web-Beta/Can-t-install-Skype-Calling-extension-for-Chrome-on-Linux/m-p/4010883/highlight/true#M252

• https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/13/linux-users-can-now-make-skype-calls-from-the-web-in-chrome/

Installing Skype 5 (64 bit Version)

On March 29, 2017 Microsoft released Skype for Linux version 5 at 64 bit. Which replaces the legacy 4.3.0.37-1 at 32 bit.

To install Skype 5 choose one of the following sections depending on your Debian version

Debian 9 "Stretch"

64 bits/amd64

Steps to install Skype 5 on Debian 9 "Stretch" at 64 bits/amd64

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

    apt-get install sudo 

• Note: sudo package allows you to execute some commands as root.

2. Using your favorite browser such as Firefox go to https://go.skype.com/linux.deb to download Skype 5 installer skypeforlinux-64.deb file

3. Using Terminal as user, run the following command to install Skype 5

    sudo dpkg -i skypeforlinux-64.deb 

4. Skype 5 is now installed. The executable is named skypeforlinux.

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

Any volunteer to edit this section?

Debian 8 "Jessie"

64 bits/amd64

Steps to install Skype 5 for Linux Beta on Debian 8 "Jessie" at 64 bits/amd64

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

    apt-get install sudo 

• Note: sudo package allows you to execute some commands as root.

2. Still using Terminal as user, run the following command to install apt-transport-https package. Which is required by Skype.

    sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https

• Note: apt-transport-https package allows https download transport for APT.

3. Using your favorite browser such as Firefox go to https://go.skype.com/linux.deb to download Skype 5 installer skypeforlinux-64.deb file. The download should automatically start after a few seconds.

   • Note: If the web page above is not automatically starting the download, alternatively the Skype 5 installer skypeforlinux-64.deb file could be downloaded manually from https://repo.skype.com/deb/pool/main/s/skypeforlinux/ On that page, it is suggested to download the most recent version of the installer.

4. Using Terminal as user, run the following command to install Skype 5

   sudo dpkg -i skypeforlinux-64.deb 

5. Skype is now installed. The executable is named skypeforlinux.

6. Done. You have successfully installed Skype 5 for Debian 8 Jessie.

   • Note: During the installation the repository https://repo.skype.com/deb was added. In the future Debian will automatically check if a new version of Skype is available. If you configure your Package Updater appropriately you could get automated updates.

Optional tips if you are using GNOME:

1. Steps to open Skype:

   1. Search your Dash for Skype for Linux Beta icon

   2. Click on it to open Skype

2. To automatically open Skype at boot and log-in, using Tweak Tool:

   1. Click on Startup applications vertical tab

   2. Click on the + button

   3. Search and select Skype for Linux Beta

   4. Next time you reboot your computer Skype will automatically open

3. Optionally, if you need to see Skype icon in your GNOME tray, so that you can easily see the Skype tray notifications, you might be interested to install that TopIcons extension.

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

Any volunteer to edit this section?

Jailing Skype

Since Skype is non-free software, you might want to jail it so it can't freely access your files. See this blog post for a simple way of doing it.

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.

• CategoryProprietarySoftware