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Skype

I assume you know Skype, otherwise you probably wouldn't be here.

Sadly, there's no 64bit version of Skype for Linux available. That could change though, I read that Skype (at least the UI) will become Open Source in the future. At least as per version 2.2.0.25 there is a 64bit package for Debian available, so no more manual installation of dependencies and “–force-architecture”.

In the meantime, fortunately it is possible—and quite simple—to run Skype on Debian GNU/Linux amd64 (Lenny or later). Just follow these steps:

  1. Download the latest Skype version from the official site.
  2. Install Skype (you should use the filename of the downloaded .deb of course) 
    # dpkg -i skype-debian_2.2.0.25-1_amd64.deb

That's all!

Troubleshooting

Note that none of this troubleshooting would be necessary if Skype was a real 64bit application…

Logitech Quickcam Messenger

It is possible that your video won't work with a Logitech Quickcam Messenger (and other Logitech cameras) while it works fine in all other applications. This issue is addressed in the Release Notes of version 2.2.0.25, follow these steps to get it working again:

  1. If you haven't already, install some 32bit v4l libraries: 
    # apt-get install lib32v4l-0
  2. Create a launcher for Skype that contains this command: 
    LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l2convert.so skype

Your camera now should work fine.

Pulseaudio

It is quite possible that Skype won't start (i.e. it opens and immediately closes again). When starting Skype from a terminal you'll get the following error message. I didn't get it while running Lenny, but later in Squeeze it happened. 

Inconsistency detected by ld.so: dl-open.c: 611: _dl_open: Assertion `_dl_debug_initialize (0, args.nsid)->r_state == RT_CONSISTENT' failed!

If that is the case, make sure you don't use any 32bit applications that need pulseaudio. Because if you do, this problem can't be solved. If you don't, the solution luckily is quite easy. Just make sure the pulseaudio 32bit libraries aren't readable anymore (as root): 

# chmod 200 /usr/lib32/libpulse*

This is actually better than just deleting the files, otherwise you'll have to do the same change again and again on updates.

Et voilà – Skype works like a charm again. This information is actually available in /usr/share/doc/skype/README, but let's be honest: we all first search the internet, don't we?