skpye 4.3 installation and configuration in linux CentOS 7 / RHEL 7 / Fedora 20

skype is most popular application which is used to make a call over the Internet as FREE of cost. Skype to Skype calls & message completely FREE and Skype to Landlines and mobile phones low calling rate compare with mobile phones. Skype Technologies S.A (Microsoft Corporation) announced the new release of Skype 4.3 for linux on June 18th 2014. Skype initially developed by Skype Technologies S.A. and founder Dave Horstman. Microsoft Corporation acquired Skype Technologies S.A. On May 2011 and doing further development now.

Features in skpye 4.3

skpye 4.3 was release with lots of new features.

• Updated UI
• Improved file transfer support when using multiple devices at once
• PulseAudio 3.0 and 4.0 support
• Skype to Skype calls
• Calls to mobiles and landlines
• Group calls
• Forward calls
• One to one and Group video calls
• Instant messaging, Voice messages & SMS
• Send files
• Screen sharing
• Group screen sharing
• Lot of bug fixes with many new features and improvements. For complete change log
• For More Features
• skype official home page

1) Install Required repositories

Install the Required repositories for CentOS, Red Hat (RHEL) and Scientific Linux.

#CentOS 7, RHEL 7 and Scientific Linux 7#
[root@2daygeek opt]# yum localinstall http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/e/epel-release-7-1.noarch.rpm
[root@2daygeek opt]# yum localinstall http://li.nux.ro/download/nux/dextop/el7/x86_64/nux-dextop-release-0-1.el7.nux.noarch.rpm

#CentOS 6, RHEL 6 and Scientific Linux 6#
[root@2daygeek opt]# yum localinstall http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/i386/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm

Install the 32-bit versions of qtwebkit from repositories

[root@2daygeek opt]# yum install qtwebkit.i686

2) Install Required Packages as per CentOS advice

The below list of packages should be installed in your system to run skype smoothly.

2a) Install the necessary 32-bit packages

[root@2daygeek opt]# yum install alsa-lib.i686 libXv.i686 libXScrnSaver.i686 gtk2-engines.i686 PackageKit-gtk-module.i686 libcanberra.i686 libcanberra-gtk2.i686

2b) Install the necessary 32-bit audio packages

[root@2daygeek opt]# yum install pulseaudio-libs.i686 alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i686

2c) Install the necessary 32-bit video package

[root@2daygeek opt]# yum install libv4l.i686

3) Download the skype archive file

Use the below command to download the skype 4.3 archive file.

[root@2daygeek opt]# wget http://download.skype.com/linux/skype-4.3.0.37.tar.bz2
--2014-09-12 13:09:18--  http://download.skype.com/linux/skype-4.3.0.37.tar.bz2
Resolving download.skype.com (download.skype.com)... 23.65.181.67, 88.221.216.105
Connecting to download.skype.com (download.skype.com)|23.65.181.67|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 19310701 (18M) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘skype-4.3.0.37.tar.bz2’

100%[======================================>] 19,310,701   907KB/s   in 20s    

2014-09-12 13:09:43 (948 KB/s) - ‘skype-4.3.0.37.tar.bz2’ saved [19310701/19310701]

4) Extracting skype 4.3 Archive file

Use the below command to extract the skype 4.3 Archive file.

[root@2daygeek opt]# tar -jxvf skype-4.3.0.37.tar.bz2

5) Create Launcher for skype

For accessing the installed software on your system globally, you need to create the launcher file to /usr/bin/skyp and give executable permission then add the below script in that file. Save + Exit.

[root@2daygeek opt]# touch /usr/bin/skype

[root@2daygeek opt]# chmod 755 /usr/bin/skype

Launcher script adding.

[root@2daygeek opt]# nano /usr/bin/skype
GNU nano 2.3.1               File: skype                                      

#!/bin/sh
export SKYPE_HOME="/opt/skype-4.3.0.37"
$SKYPE_HOME/skype --resources=$SKYPE_HOME $*

6) Configuring skype

You need to create the below list of Symbolic Links to skype work properly.

[root@2daygeek opt]# ln -s /usr/src/skype-4.3.0.37/icons/SkypeBlue_48x48.png /usr/share/icons/skype.png
[root@2daygeek opt]# ln -s /usr/src/skype-4.3.0.37/icons/SkypeBlue_48x48.png /usr/share/pixmaps/skype.png
[root@2daygeek opt]# ln -s /usr/src/skype-4.3.0.37/skype.desktop /usr/share/applications/skype.desktop
[root@2daygeek opt]# ln -s /opt/skype-4.3.0.37/sounds/ /usr/share/sounds/
[root@2daygeek opt]# ln -s /opt/skype-4.3.0.37/lang/ /usr/share/lang/

7) Launch skype

Use the below command to launch the skype from command line.

[root@2daygeek opt]# skype

Agree skype Terms of Use

skype main window launched and click skype Name button.

Enter your skype username and its password, then hit Sing in button.

Signing in in-process

Skype main window launched successfully.

skype chatting window.

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