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Possible Duplicates:
Unable to install Skype on 64bit Ubuntu
Fixing Broken Packages

Hi there I am trying to install Skype through apt-get but I am having some trouble. The Skype package depends on skype-bin which is not found in my list of packages.

So when trying to install Skype I get the following error.

$ sudo apt-get install skype
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 but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Does anyone know why this might happen? Am I missing a repository?

I get similar results when downloading the .deb from their site. But it complains about ai32-libs not being installable. This is because it depends on another package that does not exist in my list.

Please bear in mind that this is a custom install from the company I work for. They have secured it and I think they have updated it over time and skipped versions, possibly breaking things.

Community
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Wolfy87
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3 Answers3

0

Install Synaptic if you haven't yet then in Synaptic choose to show broken packages then mark them and remove then reinstall or also you can update/upgrade your packages to met the dependencies...anyway I advice you Synaptic will solve your problem.

To install skype in correct way:

sudo apt-add-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ $(lsb_release -sc) partner"

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install skype
0

It seems that installing from Ubuntu repositories install a 2.2 version of Skype.

#> skype --version
Skype 2.2.0.35
Copyright (c) 2004-2011, Skype Limited

Conversely, the official Skype website offers a 4.0 version of Skype for Ubuntu 32/64bit. To install it, download the .deb package from the website(32bit or 64bit), then run:

aptitude install lib32stdc++6 libstdc++6 lib32asound2 ia32-libs libc6-i386 lib32gcc1

and then

dpkg -i skype-ubuntu_4.0.0.8-1_amd64.deb (or its 32bit counterpart)

At the end you will have a 4.0 version of Skype installed.

#> skype --version
Skype 4.0.0.8
Copyright (c) 2004-2012, Skype
Avio
  • 3,098
0

http://www.iasptk.com/ubuntu-fix-broken-package-best-solution

Ubuntu fix broken package (best solution)

After trying 

sudo dpkg --configure -a

and

sudo apt-get install -f

the problem of a broken package still exist the solution is to edit the dpkg status file manually.

$ sudo gedit /var/lib/dpkg/status (you can use vi or nano instead of gedit) Locate the corrupt package, and remove the whole block of information about it and save the file.

----------------- skype ---------------

http://www.iasptk.com/ubuntu-ppa-repositories/17253-ubuntu-1204-skype-40-ppa

Skype 4.0 ppa:upubuntu-com/chat

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:upubuntu-com/chat

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install skype

Skype wrapper for Ubuntu ppa:skype-wrapper/ppa

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:skype-wrapper/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install skype-wrapper
ptheo
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