Skype Install Guide

Canonical provides a version of Skype in its partner repository, however, it is an outdated version. Hence, we will get the latest version from the Skype website.

Installation

First, head to Skype's Linux download page and download the Ubuntu package. Make sure to pick the appropriate architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) for your machine.

xdg-open http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/on-your-computer/linux/

Installing Skype, now, is as easy as:

#Install deb package
sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/skype-ubuntu_*.deb

#Delete package
rm ~/Downloads/skype-ubuntu_*.deb

System Notifications

As of the time of writing this document, Skype is designed to use the GNOME notification system witch does not work out of the box with Unity. The most obvious solution is to add Skype to the system tray white list, however, I found Skype Wrapper following to be a much more elegant and nice approach. Here is how to set it up:

Install Skype-Wrapper

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:skype-wrapper/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install skype-wrapper

Fix the Launcher

To use Skype-Wrapper, you will need to launch Skype using the wrapper instead of the Skype executable. The following commands will hide the Skype desktop/launch icon and show an identical one that uses the wrapper:

#Remove NoDisplay option from desktop launcher for the Skype-Wrapper
sudo sed -i '/^NoDisplay/d' /usr/share/applications/skype-wrapper.desktop
#Add a NoDispay option to the actual Skype launcher
echo "NoDisplay=true" | sudo tee -a /usr/share/applications/skype.desktop

Finally, the first time you launch Skype through Skype-Wrapper you will be asked to give the application permission to use Skype. Once you do, you are all set.

Add Skype to Messaging Menu

It only makes sense to have Skype added to the messaging menu. To do that, we add the Skype Wrapper desktop launcher to the list of indicators.

echo "/usr/share/applications/skype-wrapper.desktop" | sudo tee /usr/share/indicators/messages/applications/skype-wrapper