I am trying to install Microsoft Skype and got errors instead.
I used the command “sudo apt install rpm skypeforlinux-64.rpm”
This command was recommended by the terminal application.
Here are the errors:
E: Unable to locate package skypeforlinux-64.rpm
E: Couldn’t find any package by glob ‘skypeforlinux-64.rpm’
E: Couldn’t find any package by regex ‘skypeforlinux-64.rpm’
The file is sitting in the Downloads folder. I changed the directory in the command line to the Downloads folder before executing that command.
The Skype application is not in the Software Center application, I checked.
Couple of things:
If you are using PureOS, you need deb files, not rpm. Rpm packages are for Fedora. So the errors you see are because you do not have a repository included that has the package you are looking for. However, if you did (which you shouldn’t as it the wrong type of package to begin with), it wouldn’t be able to install.
This being said, the easiest way to install Skype is to go to Skype.com and download the x64 deb package for linux.
Assuming you’ve downloaded it to your Download folder, you will need to type the following to install it:
cd Downloads
sudo dpkg -i Name_of_Skype_File
if it says it is missing some dependencies simply type:
sudo apt-get -f install
this will attempt to install the dependencies (provided your current repos have the necessary packages) and will fix the previous installation attempt.
From here you should be good to go. In the future when you use sudo apt update, the necessary Skype repo will be in there, and it you’ll be able to keep Skype up to date this way.
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@2disbetter Thank you for the clear instructions. Installed without issues.
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Skype also has a Flatpak available - this provides a more sandboxed installation, which theoretically could mitigate unwanted/unknown features of the closed-source application. Admittedly, one of the main purposes of Skype is having access to camera and microphone, so it does still require those permissions, but Purism is also pushing for Flatpaks as the primary target structure for the Librem 5 too. I have used the Flatpak (albeit on Fedora, but Flatpak should be distro-agnostic), and it works.
@taylor-williamc
Does that mean “.deb” files are going away? I hope not, that is how I installed at least two of my chosen applications in my virtual machine of Pure OS.
They certainly aren’t going away any time soon, and very likely will never be going away. .deb and Flatpak can coexist.
Each option has pros and cons.
@taylor-williamc So, in that case, they will probably keep both.