Skype on centOS 5

Source -> http://punkts.org/trac/wiki/Skype22ForCentOS5

Package, install Skype 2.2.0.35 on CentOS 5

CentOS 5 has its own GCC Standard C++ Library package, but it is relatively old:

$ rpm -q --provides libstdc++-4.1.2-48.el5.i386 |grep GLIBC

  libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4)
  libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.1)
  libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.2)
  libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.3)
  libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.4)
  libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.5)
  libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.6)
  libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.7)
  libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.8)

Precompiled version of Skype 2.2 Beta for Linux requires a slightly newer version, libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.9).

Will install the libstdc++ package from Fedora 10, and make sure that it won't overwrite the one that came with the CentOS.

1. Download, install the GCC Standard C++ Library RPM from the Fedora 10 archive.

  # rpm -i --relocate /usr/lib=/usr/local/lib http://archives.fedoraproject.org/pub/archive/fedora/linux/releases/10/Fedora/i386/os/Packages/libstdc++-4.3.2-7.i386.rpm 
  # rpm -ql libstdc++-4.3.2-7
     /usr/local/lib/libstdc++.so.6
     /usr/local/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.10
  # ( cd /usr/local/lib ; ls -log libstdc++* )
     lrwxrwxrwx 1     19 Apr  6 12:00 libstdc++.so.6 -> libstdc++.so.6.0.10
     -rwxr-xr-x 1 954544 Nov  5  2008 libstdc++.so.6.0.10
  # whereis libstdc++.so.6
     libstdc++.so: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 /usr/local/lib/libstdc++.so.6

Now will download a few files, build and install the RPM.

2. Download statically compiled version of Skype (to avoid installation of Qt 4).

  # cd /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES
  # wget http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-static/skype_static-2.2.0.35.tar.bz2

3. Download a simple patch, and a .spec file.

  # url=http://punkts.org/sw/el5
  # wget $url/skype-2.2.0.25-shell.patch
  # wget $url/skype.sh
  # cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS
  # wget $url/skype.spec

4. Build, then install the package.

  # rpmbuild -bb skype.spec
     [...]
  # rpm -i /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/skype-2.2.0.35-*.i386.rpm 

What was the patch needed for?

  $ rpm -ql skype |grep desktop
     /usr/share/applications/skype.desktop
  $ grep Exec /usr/share/applications/skype.desktop
     Exec=skype.sh
  $ rpm -ql skype |grep bin/skype
     /usr/bin/skype
     /usr/bin/skype.sh
  $ pr -to3 /usr/bin/skype.sh
     #!/bin/sh
     LD_PRELOAD=/usr/local/lib/libstdc++.so.6 /usr/bin/skype

Upgrade to CentOS 5.6

If you'd followed instructions given above, and now are trying to upgrade your system to CentOS 5.6, you may encounter the following error:

  # yum update
     [...]
     ERROR with rpm_check_debug vs depsolve:
     libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.9) is needed by (installed) skype-2.2.0.25-2.el5.punkts.i386
     libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.9) is needed by (installed) skype-2.2.0.25-2.el5.punkts.i386
     libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.9) is needed by (installed) skype-2.2.0.25-2.el5.punkts.i386
     libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.9) is needed by (installed) skype-2.2.0.25-2.el5.punkts.i386

     Complete!
     (1, [u'Please report this error in https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter_bug.cgi?product=Red%20Hat%20Enterprise%20Linux%205&component=yum'])

To work around this problem uninstall the libstdc++-4.3.2-7 package, upgrade libstdc++ to the version that comes with CentOS 5.6, and then install the libstdc++-4.3.2-7 package back in place.

  # rpm -e --nodeps libstdc++-4.3.2-7
  # yum update libstdc++
     [...]

     Updated:
       libstdc++.i386 0:4.1.2-50.el5                 libstdc++.x86_64 0:4.1.2-50.el5                

     Dependency Updated:
       cpp.x86_64 0:4.1.2-50.el5                    gcc.x86_64 0:4.1.2-50.el5                       
       gcc-c++.x86_64 0:4.1.2-50.el5                gcc-gfortran.x86_64 0:4.1.2-50.el5              
       libgcc.i386 0:4.1.2-50.el5                   libgcc.x86_64 0:4.1.2-50.el5                    
       libgfortran.x86_64 0:4.1.2-50.el5            libstdc++-devel.x86_64 0:4.1.2-50.el5           

     Complete!

  # rpm -i --relocate /usr/lib=/usr/local/lib libstdc++-4.3.2-7.i386.rpm