Question

2

Install Skype on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64-bit

rated 0 times [ 2] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 129591 / 2 Years ago, tue, april 5, 2022, 8:21:59

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

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

montwim

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 103

Total Questions: 112

Total Answers: 120

Location: Vietnam

Member since Mon, Mar 14, 2022

2 Years ago

answered 2 Years ago sconhoney · Accepted Answer

OK, I have found a solution for my problem. I have followed the steps described here: http://rumytaulu.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/cant-install-ia32-libs-and-ia32-libs-multiarch-how-to-fix-it/

After that, I have simply ran sudo apt-get install skype and... voila, it works!

I must say I it has a negative consequence. After running sudo apt-get dist-upgrade as described in the third step, I get the following if I run sudo apt-get autoremove:

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree       

Reading state information... Done

0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

2 not fully installed or removed.

After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.

Setting up grub-efi-amd64 (1.99-21ubuntu3.9) ...

/var/lib/dpkg/info/grub-efi-amd64.postinst: line 684: grub-install: command not found

dpkg: error processing grub-efi-amd64 (--configure):

 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 127

dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of grub-efi-amd64-signed:

 grub-efi-amd64-signed depends on grub-efi-amd64 (>= 1.99-21ubuntu3.5); however:

  Package grub-efi-amd64 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing grub-efi-amd64-signed (--configure):

 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured

No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.

                          Errors were encountered while processing:

 grub-efi-amd64

 grub-efi-amd64-signed

E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Everything works fine fortunately, but now I would like to fix that issue with Grub packages, specially because it is related with Grub which is very critical. I just wonder if I can find further unexpected problems booting my computer...

Well I will update this answer if I manage to fix this undesired consequence. If anybody knows how to, please let me know.

UPDATE:

I managed to solve the issue with GRUB packages, described the issue and solution here: Unable to fix broken package system