How to Install Skype API Plugin for Pidgin in Ubuntu

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This is the Skype API Plugin for Pidgin/libpurple/Adium. If you're already running Skype, you can have your Skype contacts displayed with your Pidgin/libpurple/Adium contacts. It is intended as a complete replacement for the Skype user interface, hopefully everything you can do in Skype you can do with this plugin.

Install Skype API Plugin for Pidgin in Ubuntu

First you need to download the plugin using the following command

wget http://eion.robbmob.com/skype4pidgin.deb

Now you should have skype4pidgin.deb package.Install this .deb package using the following command

sudo dpkg -i skype4pidgin.deb

or you can download the following libskype.so file to the plugins directory, normally /usr/lib/purple-2/ or ~/.purple/plugins

For 32 bit users download this

wget http://eion.robbmob.com/libskype.so

For 64 bit users download this

wget http://eion.robbmob.com/libskype64.so

This will complete the installation.After installation you need to restart Pidgin! You will then have a skype option enabled.

Screenshot


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19 Responses

  1. Von says:

    i’ve always wanted webcam n voice call support in pidgin.will this enable both features?

  2. Shubuntu says:

    wow! I was just looking for that!
    Thanks a lot.

  3. Bkg says:

    Do you need skype to be running in the background in order for this plugin to work?

  4. Alex.O says:

    Hi,

    Quotation from http://eion.robbmob.com/README.txt :

    Q: Does this plugin require Skype to be running?
    A: Yes. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<

    Q: Can you make a version that doesn’t need Skype?
    A: Not possible right now.

  5. chombium says:

    I installed the plugin and I saw that I got two account types: Skype and Skype (DBus).
    I configured the one with Skype and when ever I activate the account Skype client is started
    (I have already installed skype) :/

    After this I uninstalled both Skype and Pidgin and reinstalled Pidgin with the skype4pidgin plugin.
    When I tried to start pidgin I got segmentation fault

    I’m using Interpid, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic on Intel Core 2 Duo

  6. kinkerl says:

    you have to run skype in the background. this plugin is only using the public skype api, but i like it! :p

  7. well actually when i am closing skype, pidgin disconnects me from skype account. So skype must be in background to enable to use pidginSkype plugin.. Or maybe my config. is bad. I am using Linux Mint Elyssa, skype 2.0.0.72 pidgin 2.4.1

  8. Daniel says:

    Before this plugin only worked if Skype was also running. And It didn’t had voice/video support.
    Has this changed now?

    Thanks.

  9. Mark says:

    Well I tried it and it worked as advertised, I then decided I don’t want skype on my machine

    I then removed skype and the .so file from the /usr/lib/purple-2 folder.

    When I restarted pidgin, the Skype and SkypeOut groups still exist…so I tried removing them and I can’t. I even went as far as removed them from the xml files under ~/.purple, still they come back

    What can I do to remove the groups?

  10. JC says:

    So what exactly is this plugin for if you still need Skype running?

  11. AS says:

    Pidgin keeps crashing (seg fault) every time I try to allow it to access Skype’s API….

  12. nass says:

    just like AS said above, pidgin kept crashing…

    it’s the same when i tried to add Faceboom contacts also

  13. Francisco says:

    Google’s irony is that it became the giant it is now because of Free Software such as GNU/LInux; however, they will not release their VOIP service (Google Talk) to users of Ubuntu and other distributions. Skype, so far, has the lead on platform independence.

    As long as Google ignores the Free Software community, Skype has nothing to fear.

  14. Manky Gitt says:

    Just the other day I was scratching my head trying to figure out how to hook the Skype status into the cool new Intrepid user status widget. Thank you – this plugin does that very nicely indeed. Now I can update my online status for all my social netorking tools in one click. Brilliant work.

  15. craig says:

    I’ve been told that “fring” uses the skype API but doesn’t need skype installed.

    Can pidgin not do the same thing? I don’t want to have skype installed on my pc.

  16. bipin says:

    /tmp/skype-debian_2.0.0.72-1_i386.deb could not be opened, because the associated helper application does not exist. Change the association in your preferences.

    how to remove thiss error and install skype

  17. Red Five says:

    The problem I keep having is that when I try to set up my Skype account via Skype (DBUS), Pidgin crashes. It only works if I use the non-DBUS version, but with that I get 2 chat windows for each chat session: one from Skype, and one from Pidgin with everything duplicated from the Skype window.

  18. Red Five says:

    Oh, and I’m on Ubuntu 9.04 amd64, Core 2 Duo.

  19. Andy says:

    Thanks for the explaination.

    Unfortunately the files on that website are hopelessly outdated.

    Is there any source up-to-date for the compiled versions?

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