Old skype issues

Question

I can't find any info on that so I am wondering maybe anyone have found any bypasses.

The issue is that skype stopped supporting old version, and I am forced to use web skype, or new skype for linux which doesn't meet my expectations.

When I launch old skype login screen pops, I enter my credentials and after clicking 'login' skype just exits.

I am using MINT 17.02.

Thank you.

I would run old skype in terminal emulator such as GNOME terminal so that any errors that can happen on start are more visible. — ks1322, Nov 13 '17 at 09:40
dev@dev-pc ~ $ skype ERROR: ld.so: object 'libesets_pac.so' from /etc/ld.so.preload cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64): ignored. That's the only error I see when I launch skype, and when it quits, nothing appears. — evngcdr, Nov 13 '17 at 10:10

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 25 '17 at 16:58

2

The bypass is trivial.

First, make sure that you use the correct version of the program.

$ skype --version
Skype 4.3.0.37
© 2014 Skype and/or Microsoft

But when you try to sign in, Skype exits.

Fortunately, Microsoft has implemented the program version verification in a particularly simple way. Now I assume you are in the same directory as the skype executable and that you have sufficient rights to edit this file (you can also use the sudo command). You can change the version of the program with Perl.

$ perl -pi -e 's/4\.3\.0\.37/8.3.0.37/g' skype

Furthermore, you can verify that the change succeeded.

$ skype --version
Skype 8.3.0.37
© 2014 Skype and/or Microsoft

And finally, you can run the program…

answered Nov 25 '17 at 16:58

DaBler

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Whow! It works, thank you very much DaBler! – evngcdr Nov 26 '17 at 12:50
Thank you very much! It is just genial! I was afraid I have lost tons of chat history forever... – Kristjan Adojaan Dec 13 '17 at 10:45
Also you can patch binary with `sed`: `sed -i 's/4\.3\.0\.37/8.3.0.37/g' skype`. – SergA Jan 22 '18 at 04:45
This is not working for me today. – Jayen Apr 03 '19 at 19:42

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 13 '17 at 11:47

Skype runs on a closed, centrally controlled communications protocolS. The controller of said protocol had advertised that the client version you are trying to use would no longer be operational after a certain date.

That is what happened.

Probably the protocol itself has migrated away from one that is known by the old skype client. There is a little chance however that the server just check the client by some version signature, much like web browsers send the User-Agent string.

In both cases, you'd have to binary patch the skype client to change the way it communicates with the server. If the protocol has not changed much, it would be just a matter of changing the client-identification string. But even if the protocol has not changed much, changing the client-id might already change the way the server communicates with the client, rendering it a paperweight.

If the protocol actually changed, then it is about 2 orders of magnitude worse: you'd have to reverse engineer the protocol, create a working implementation, and patch the old client to use it.

So, to sum up, if it is not obvious yet: you can't do that. Either use the web client, or change your messaging platform.

If you are interested, Microsoft has documented the server SIP and media protocols - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc339480(v=office.12).aspx — John Austin, Nov 14 '17 at 18:11
that is nice. The old open-source apps to connect to several chats at once are still around. let's hope someone implements that. — jsbueno, Nov 15 '17 at 03:00

Old skype issues

2 Answers2