Ubuntu – Install Skype on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64-bit

skypesoftware installation

Since weeks ago I'm trying to install Skype on my computer. I imagined it would be a straight forward task but it is becoming a nightmare.

What I have tried so far:

Installing from command line with apt

The easiest one and the most likely anybody would try:
sudo apt-get install skype

But I get this unfortunately:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed.
This may mean that you have requested an impossible situation or if you are
using the unstable distribution that some required packages have not
yet been created or been moved out of Incoming. The following
information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
  skype :
     Depends:
       skype-bin
     E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

If I try sudo apt-get intall skype-bin I get:

 Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
 requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
 distribution that some required packages have not yet been created or
 been moved out of Incoming. The following information may help to
 resolve the situation:

 The following packages have unmet dependencies:  skype-bin:i386 :
    Depends: libqt4-dbus:i386 (>= 4:4.5.3) but it is not going to be installed
    Depends: libqt4-network:i386 (>= 4:4.8.0) but it is not going to be installed
    Depends: libqt4-xml:i386 (>= 4:4.5.3) but it is not going to be installed
    Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (>= 4:4.7.0~beta1) but it is not going to be installed
    Depends: libqtgui4:i386 (>= 4:4.8.0) but it is not going to be installed
    Depends: libqtwebkit4:i386 (>= 2.2~2011week36) but it is not going to be installed
    Recommends: sni-qt:i386 but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

After that I tried with commands like sudo apt-get clean, sudo apt-get update, sudo apt-get autoclean and sudo apt-get -f install, among others, in order to fix any issue with packages dependency but it was completely unsuccessful.

I have followed the instructions explained here (How do I install Skype?) but it doesn't work either.

Installing from Software Center

If I try to install from Software Center I get exactly the same error than running sudo apt-get install skype from the terminal.

Installing with Ubuntu Tweak

Fails as well, I get the following error:

skype: Depends: skype-bin, but it is a virtual package.

Installing with Synaptic

I have also followed the instruction described here:

community.skype.com/t5 / Linux / Unable-to-install-due-to-unmet-dependencies-Skype-bin/m-p/1339650/highlight/true#M3329

Much of the same, doesn't work either.

Installing official Skype .deb

After downloading skype-ubuntu-precise_4.1.0.20-1_i386.deb from http://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/skype-for-linux/downloading/?type=ubuntu64 I tried to install it though Software Center but it displays the following error:

Cannot install 'lbqt4-dbus:i386'

Trying to fix apt

I have tried to fix any possible problem with packages by following this post (How do I resolve unmet dependencies after adding a PPA?) but didn't work.

Following Ubuntu Help instructions

If I try to follow the instructions explained in https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Skype I have problems when running sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386, I get the following:

dpkg: error: unknown option –add-architecture

I have also tried other approaches by following other posts and solutions I found but nothing of this worked for me. At this point I'm completely lost and I don't know what else I can do. I hope somebody can comes up with any solution.

This is the content of my sources.list, just in case:

# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20130213)]/ dists/precise/main/binary-i386/

# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20130213)]/ dists/precise/restricted/binary-i386/
# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20130213)]/ precise main restricted

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu 
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to 
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in 
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-updates multiverse

## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security main restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu precise partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu precise partner

## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
## developers who want to ship their latest software.
# deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main
# deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ precise partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ precise partner

Best Answer

A combination of Gx1sptDTDa and Alejandro García Seco worked perfectly for me.

Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T).

Copy and paste this into terminal:

sudo apt-get install libqt4-dbus:i386 libqt4-network:i386 libqt4-xml:i386 libqtcore4:i386 libqtgui4:i386 libqtwebkit4:i386 sni-qt:i386

Press Enter.

Then install Skype by pasting this:
```
sudo apt-get install skype
```

Skype 4.2 is running on my fresh Ubuntu 12.04 LTE 64bit.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Skype on 12.04 x64 does not start even after purging and reinstalling it

Skype is working very well on Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit version (using it right now).

How to:

Go to Software Sources, click on second tab Other Software and mark Canonical Partners and Canonical Partners (Source Code).
Open your terminal and add the following command sudo apt-get update.
After the update is completed please type sudo apt-get install skype. This will install skype and will work perfectly.

Good luck.

Ubuntu – Cannot install Adobe or Skype due to ia32-libs error

I had a similar problem with broken dependencies when trying to install wine and acroread, and a complaint when trying to install ia32-libs-multiarch, just after upgrading to 12.04 from 11.04 (passing over 11.10). It seems that some ppa's I had in 11.04 installed newer versions of applications in the system. After upgrading, the remains of these apps seemed to do some mess in the dependencies.

The solution that seems to work (until now), was found on a german ubuntu board (http://forum.ubuntuusers.de, posts from user Lasall):

First a downgrade is required and done with the following: create the 'preferences' file:

sudo vi /etc/apt/preferences

and insert the following lines:

Package: *       
Pin: release a=precise*
Pin-Priority: 2012

Pin-Priority must be greater than 1000.

Then you may downgrade the offending applications with:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Then you may install packages that complained about dependencies, like sudo apt-get install ia32-libs-multiarch, or sudo apt-get install ia32-libs.

Finally, you should remove the file you just created:

sudo rm /etc/apt/preferences

because else no new updates would be found.

Hope this helps you too!