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Today, as I've issued the apt-get upgrade command, I've noticed there is Skype update in the list. I am absolutely happy with the old Skype 2.2.0.35 Beta and definitely don't want anything to change.

What I want is not only to forbid the package to update but to save it for future installations too. How can I achieve this?

Eliah Kagan
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Ivan
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2 Answers2

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You want to keep a particular version of the package skype for the foreseeable future, even when newer versions are available, and even if you install Ubuntu again from scratch.

First, assuming this beta version is packaged the same way as the current version, there are actually two packages--skype, and skype-bin.

There are two things you must do, for each of these packages:

  1. Pin them at their current versions so they're left alone when you update software. That's been covered in this question:

  2. Keep copies of the .deb package files used to install them. You'll probably find them in /var/cache/apt/archives. Their names should begin with skype_2.2.0.35- and skype-bin_2.2.0.35- (and both end in .deb).

    Back them up, and if you have to reinstall Ubuntu from scratch or if you want to install this version of Skype on another machine, just install those packages. One way to install them is to run this command, after cding to the folder that contains the .deb files:

    sudo dpkg -i skype_2.2.0.35-*.deb skype-bin_2.2.0.35-*.deb

    If you're told one or both of these packages can't be completely configured because you don't have the necessary dependencies installed, make sure you're connected to the Internet and run these commands:

    sudo apt-get -f install
sudo dpkg --configure -a

Finally, please note that if you continue to use an old version of Skype that is no longer supported upstream:

  • It may stop working, or stop working properly, over time.
  • It may contain security vulnerabilities fixed in later versions.
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Eliah Kagan
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  • Thank you for the answer. But unfortunately the only Skype-related package I could find in /var/cache/apt/archives is skype_4.0.0.7-0precise1_i386.deb (I didn't install it but it's there). Do you know of a place where I can download the old packages. As for Windows I use to download old Skype distributions from http://www.filehippo.com/download_skype/history/ , is there any place where old Ubuntu packages are saved on the Web? – Ivan Aug 15 '12 at 19:26
  • @Ivan If Skype version 2 was ever made available for Ubuntu 12.04, those files don't seem to be available anymore. You can try installing the Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick package (download it from here). It seems that there's actually just one package there (no skype-bin package). Remove both skype and skype-bin (if they're installed) before attempting to install it. Or use the orig archive (not packaged for Ubuntu; similar to what was available at Skype.com). – Eliah Kagan Aug 15 '12 at 20:22
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For forbidding updating it, you could pin the package.

First find out what priority it's being installed in with. here's an example

$ sudo apt-cache policy skype
skype:
  Installed: 4.0.0.8-1~precise
  Candidate: 4.0.0.8-1~precise
  Version table:
 *** 4.0.0.8-1~precise 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/upubuntu-com/chat/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     4.0.0.8-0oneiric1 0
        500 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ precise/partner amd64 Packages
$

Then you can create a file. The lowest priority in this example is 100, so anything below that should make the package not upgrade, despite newer versions being available.

Ubuntu looks for pinning instructions in /etc/apt/preferences.d/. For example, if you are using Ubuntu Precise (12.04), you can create this file telling it to set all packages named skype for precise with priority 90, which will make it prefer the current installed package (which has priority at least 100).

$ cat  /etc/apt/preferences.d/skype
Package: skype
Pin: release n=precise
Pin-Priority: 90

I was told you can do this with synaptic as well.

As for downloading the package, once you've pinned the version you want: 

$ apt-get download skype
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yuvilio
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