When installing Skype, whether it's by running (after enabling the partner repository):
sudo apt-get install skype
Or installing it from the .deb file that you get from the Skype website. I always find that there are always a large amount of 32-bit dependencies to be installed:
gstreamer1.0-plugins-base:i386 libasound2:i386 libasound2-plugins:i386
libasyncns0:i386 libaudio2:i386 libavahi-client3:i386
libavahi-common-data:i386 libavahi-common3:i386 libcdparanoia0:i386
libcups2:i386 libdbus-1-3:i386 libdbusmenu-qt2:i386 libflac8:i386
libfontconfig1:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libglib2.0-0:i386 libglu1-mesa:i386
libgmp10:i386 libgnutls-deb0-28:i386 libgssapi-krb5-2:i386
libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0:i386 libgstreamer1.0-0:i386 libhogweed4:i386
libice6:i386 libicu55:i386 libjack-jackd2-0:i386 libjbig0:i386
libjpeg-turbo8:i386 libjpeg8:i386 libjson-c2:i386 libk5crypto3:i386
libkeyutils1:i386 libkrb5-3:i386 libkrb5support0:i386 liblcms2-2:i386
libmng2:i386 libmysqlclient18:i386 libnettle6:i386 libogg0:i386
liborc-0.4-0:i386 libp11-kit0:i386 libpng12-0:i386 libpulse0:i386
libqt4-dbus:i386 libqt4-declarative:i386 libqt4-network:i386
libqt4-opengl:i386 libqt4-script:i386 libqt4-sql:i386 libqt4-sql-mysql:i386
libqt4-xml:i386 libqt4-xmlpatterns:i386 libqtcore4:i386 libqtdbus4:i386
libqtgui4:i386 libqtwebkit4:i386 libsamplerate0:i386 libsm6:i386
libsndfile1:i386 libspeexdsp1:i386 libsqlite3-0:i386 libssl1.0.0:i386
libtasn1-6:i386 libtheora0:i386 libtiff5:i386 libvisual-0.4-0:i386
libvisual-0.4-plugins:i386 libvorbis0a:i386 libvorbisenc2:i386 libwrap0:i386
libxi6:i386 libxml2:i386 libxrender1:i386 libxslt1.1:i386 libxss1:i386
libxt6:i386 libxv1:i386 skype-bin:i386 sni-qt:i386
Why is this? I am running 64-bit Ubuntu GNOME 15.10 with GNOME 3.18.
Best Answer
Skype is a 32-bit application and 32-bit applications need 32-bit libraries.
If an application needs many libraries and it is a 32-bit one it obviously needs many 32-bit libraries.