How to Install Skype 4.3 on Arch Linux

Skype is a most popular VoIP – Voice over IP  for Linux.

Install Skype in Arch Linux

What brings new in this version of Skype for Linux:

•     An enhanced User Interface.
•     A New cloud-based Group Chat exposure.
•     Improved support for file transfer using on multiple device the same time.
•     Support for PulseAudio 3.0 and 4.0.
•     ALSA sound system is no more supported without PulseAudio.
•     Many bug fixes.
  

Install Skype 4.3 on Arch Linux

1.  Before installing Skype 4.3 on Arch Linux, assure that you have PulseAudio and all the required libraries installed on your system using the following commands.
On 32-bit Arch Linux

$ sudo pacman -S pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa pavucontrol

On 64-bit Arch Linux

$ sudo pacman -S pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa pavucontrol lib32-libpulse

2. Then stop and start PulseAudio server with the following commands.

$ pulseaudio -k
$ pulseaudio --start

3. Now install old Skype package from official Arch repository in order to pull out all the dependencies required to run smooth.

$ sudo pacman -S skype

Install Old Skype in Arch

4. Now to upgrade your software to the last version, go to official Skype web page using followiing link and download Dynamic package and extract it.

    http://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/skype-for-linux/

$ cd Downloads
$ tar xjv skype-4.3.0.37.tar.bz2
$ cd skype-4.3.0.37/

Download and Install Latest Skype

5. Don’t leave the folder and use the following commands to upgrade Skype to latest version 4.3 from sources.
$ sudo cp -r avatars/*  /usr/share/skype/
$ sudo cp -r lang/*  /usr/share/skype/
$ sudo cp -r sounds/*  /usr/share/skype/
$ sudo cp skype  /usr/bin/
$ sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/skype

6. Now reboot your system and open Skype and you should see the last version running on your Arch Linux.

Skype 4.3 Login Screen
About Skype 4.3

7. To revert changes to official Arch repository Skype run the following commands.
$ sudo pacman -R skype
$ sudo pacman -S skype

If you want to install Skype 4.3 on other Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora and OpenSuse visit Skype official page and grab the binary especially build and packaged for those distributions by Skype developers.