Install Skype 4.2/4.0 on Fedora 20/19, CentOS/RHEL/SL 6.5

skype-logo-smallThis is guide, howto install Skype 4.2 on Fedora 20/19/18/17/16/15/14 and Skype 4.0 on CentOS/Red Hat (RHEL)/Scientific Linux (SL) 6.5/6.4/6.3/6.2/6.1/6. This is actually easy process, but I won’t use Skype own RPM package, which works only with Fedora 16+. Skype package also doesn’t care about any needed dependencies on 64-bit (x86_64) systems nor 32-bit (i686) systems. This guide uses Skype dynamic package (for Fedora) and static package (for CentOS/Red Hat (RHEL)/Scientific Linux (SL) 6.5/6.4/6.3/6.2/6.1/6) and all dependencies are installed manually.
1. Install Skype 4.2 on Fedora 20/19/18/17/16/15 and Skype 4.0 on CentOS/Red Hat (RHEL) 6.5/6.4/6.3/6.2/6.1/6
1.1 Change root user

su -
## OR ##
sudo -i

1.2 Install Needed Dependencies

yum install alsa-lib.i686 fontconfig.i686 freetype.i686 glib2.i686 libSM.i686 libXScrnSaver.i686 libXi.i686 libXrandr.i686 libXrender.i686 libXv.i686 libstdc++.i686 pulseaudio-libs.i686 qt.i686 qt-x11.i686 zlib.i686

Same command on multiple lines:

yum install alsa-lib.i686 fontconfig.i686 freetype.i686 \
glib2.i686 libSM.i686 libXScrnSaver.i686 libXi.i686 \
libXrandr.i686 libXrender.i686 libXv.i686 libstdc++.i686 \
pulseaudio-libs.i686 qt.i686 qt-x11.i686 zlib.i686

On Fedora install also following package:

yum install qtwebkit.i686

1.3 Download Skype 4.2 Dynamic or Skype 4.0 Static Package

cd /tmp

## Skype 4.2 Dynamic for Fedora ##
wget --trust-server-names http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-dynamic

## Skype 4.0 Static for CentOS / Red Hat (RHEL) / Scientific Linux (SL) ##
wget http://download.skype.com/linux/skype_static-4.0.0.8.tar.bz2

1.4 Extract Skype

mkdir /opt/skype

## Extract Skype 4.2 on Fedora ##
tar xvf skype-4.2* -C /opt/skype --strip-components=1

## Extract Skype 4.0 on CentOS / Red Hat (RHEL) / Scientific Linux (SL) ##
tar xvf skype_static* -C /opt/skype --strip-components=1

1.5 Create libtiff.so.4 link on CentOS / Red Hat (RHEL) / Scientific Linux (SL)

Note: This is not needed on Fedora

cd /usr/lib

ln -s libtiff.so.3 /usr/lib/libtiff.so.4

1.6 Create Launcher, Link icons, lang and sounds

ln -s /opt/skype/skype.desktop /usr/share/applications/skype.desktop
ln -s /opt/skype/icons/SkypeBlue_48x48.png /usr/share/icons/skype.png
ln -s /opt/skype/icons/SkypeBlue_48x48.png /usr/share/pixmaps/skype.png

touch /usr/bin/skype
chmod 755 /usr/bin/skype

Open /usr/bin/skype with text editor and add following content:

#!/bin/sh
export SKYPE_HOME="/opt/skype"

$SKYPE_HOME/skype --resources=$SKYPE_HOME $*

2. Use Skype
2.1 Start Skype

From command line use skype command

skype