Skype 4.0 for Linux has been released. I would like to test the new version but keep the old 2.2 around just in case. I cannot find the 2.2 installation .deb, even though I thought that I did save one (I usually do save installation files).
EDIT: Is there any way to "export" a .deb package from the currently-installed Skype?
Best Answer
it's completely unnecessary to run a virtual machine or a chroot just for skype.
if you download the statically linked (not requiring system dependancies) skype distributable, you can run both Skype 4.0 and Skype 2.2 on the same system.
install skype 4.0 using the deb, and download the statically linked version of skype 2.2 and extract it to
/opt
and then add/opt/skype-VERSION
to your$PATH
in~/.bashrc
rename the
skype
executable in/opt/skype-VERSION
to something likeskype-2.2
and once you've done all of that, you should be able to run
skype-2.2
andskype
for either version.here's Skype 2.2 static: http://download.skype.com/linux/skype_static-2.2.0.35.tar.bz2