Skype debian package - libqt3c102-mt

Skype may be a great free Voice-over-IP (VoIP) application for all sorts of operating systems, but they should test their linux installs better. A dependency in the current debian package (and therefore affecting ubuntu, which I run), is rather broken. To the point that it stopped me installing or doing anything else with packages unless I removed the skype package. I could have done that and installed the binary, or converted an rpm package using 'alien'; but I wanted to keep it dpkg'd; and I fancied being able to do future upgrades more easily too (assuming they fix it).

When you try and do stuff it complains about one of the QT libraries - libqt3c102-mt. Ubuntu Breezy Badger and Hoary Hedgehog (version names of Ubuntu releases in case you didn't know) do have a recent enough version of this library, in fact they have a more recent version (3:3.3.3-7ubuntu3 at present) than the required (3:3.3.3.2) - but as you can see there, the subtle difference (the .2 against the -7) means the dependency-checking will break and it will think it's not new enough.

I hack-fixed mine (not all that great a solution, but I don't know enough about .deb packages yet, maybe I'd issue a better fix or provide a script to fix it for you if I did.

My hacky way (please note, usual kind of disclaimers - I don't KNOW that it won't break other stuff or future upgrades of skype but I reckon you're ok):

1. edit /var/lib/dpkg/status using vi or gedit or whatever you like as long as it's a plain text editor that won't add extra characters to it (you'll need to use sudo or do it as root, sudo -e is handy as the command instead of your editor).
2. Do a search for skype.
3. Below the block of stuff for skype, you'll see a line that lists shared libraries (shlibs?) and version numbers. The bit for libqt3c102-mt needs to have the number in brackets after it changed from 3:3.3.3.2.

I actually changed mine to the -7ubuntu3 I have but that's probably not the best choice. Try 3:3.3.3-2 ie. take replace the "." in the last ".2" with "-2"). I'm not sure that's good enough, but to my mind (without testing), it's closest to being right. If it doesn't work you're welcome to try others. Save the file and exit the editor, then try rerunning synaptic or your apt-get command or whatever it was you were trying to install.

You're welcome to post comments so other people can see which one(s) work too.

The PROPER fix of course is to extract skype's .deb package, fix the control info in that (yes, I had a little look into it and understood some of it a little already but not really enough or it was going to take too long to make sure I did it right); then rebuild the package and install that instead of the one direct from the skype website. It might just be a similar change, but hey, my fix works for now and stops it complaining anytime you do package stuff.

Hopefully it won't break anything else needing that library. I doubt it will (?) but ...

Usual disclaimers, as I said above - YMMV.

Tags: skype ubuntu debian

Huh? Sunday evening already?

I just had a really active Saturday night/Sunday. I went clubbing on Saturday night in London, very friendly atmosphere; not very busy according to usual apparently (my first time there), it was a special event and there's another big event next weekend so some people didn't go to this one. Quite an experience. I had a good time - the important bit, and chatted to loads of people (the music wasn't too loud). When the club shut at 4am, I went on to a party after with a couple of other guys and didn't leave til 8.45am. Then I went and did some shopping. Spent wayyyy too much money, flirted with some cute sales assistants, and walked around for hours and hours. I explored a market I hadn't been in before in Camden. I am happy with all my purchases so far.

Due to the total lack of sleep or rest since Friday evening (when I had about 5hrs I think), I'm going to try and get an early night so I'm not writing any more tonight. Sorry.

Tags: clubbing subversion

One-line thought provokers or boring trivia

A number of short thoughts or just trivia I felt like writing down here...

Be warned - I've been watching Open University (or -alike) programs about things from the macro (SETI, universe scale) to the micro (cells, mitochondria etc)

• I never realised cells were so complex inside. I mean, I knew they were complex and amazing and that the GCSE biology I knew was almost nothing but scratching at the surface; but wow! Makes you wonder how anything like it ever evolved - and therefore, that maybe it didn't. Proteins, ribo-whatsits.. I'm not arguing that evolution didn't, and doesn't-still happen (could it be any more obvious now we know it?); just pondering on life's starting point.
• Then you go to the macro scale and again your mind is blown by just how much is out there in the universe, the sheer volume and mass (sorry, "sheer" just doesn't even begin to cover a fraction of one tiny part of it but what can I say? Tens of billions of light years etc..) and you can begin to believe how, given enough attempts over all the star systems and all the galaxies and all the subgroups of galaxies and ... through the entire life of the universe, almost anything can happen at some place and time.
• This post is ripe for adding to for a while still by the way, sure I had more I wanted to add.

Nature, eh!

More thoughts... With something so unbelievably unlikely by pure chance, and a metaphorical petri-dish for it all to happen in (the universe) so large, the probably tends towards 1 for it actually happening somewhere, some place, some time. But for the thing that it happens to (us say, to pick a good example :-), what must they think (assuming they can, or let's think for them)? If you're the product of something incredibly unlikely, you must think yourself very special. If you can't find or see any other instances of the situation that brought you into existance, you try to hunt for meaning elsewhere.

Tags: trivia space

Flora Pro-Activ

Do I eat more cos it's got stuff that's good for my heart? Or less 'cos it's fatty and, actually, not all that good......

Ok, silly Q - I know I don't want to downing tonnes of it just cos; bit it does seem rather like trying to plug the collapsing dam with one finger when you're consuming something so full of fat anyway.

Tags: food health

Office Joke Culture

I was listening to some of the usual banter at work a while ago, and something made me think about the different joke culture you get in different departments. Geeks have their humour, sales have theirs, and I'm sure other departments have their own topics too. It's not just about the in-jokes for each area of expertise, it's to do with the common interests you get with being someone employed in that capacity. So geeks tend to read (or know of) slashdot (glad it's moved to css now by the way, so much easier for user javascript/custom styles <grin>) and keep up with science, technology, and computer-related news; I guess other departments have their own areas. Not that I know what they are - or is it it all filled with gossip?

Tags: geek culture

1Mb ADSL

1Mb ADSL - finally!

I knew it was going to happen sometime, but if only I'd known before the event. Rather than, say, get back late (last-train-ish late) one evening last week (Thursday) and turn my desktop+firewall boxes on only to find they're not connecting. I wonder what's up - it never has any problems connecting on a clean boot. I mean never. Has my ISP got connection problems? BT ADSL problems? So I give their status-phoneline a call. Nothing reported.

I'd been doing stuff around the back of my TV what with my tube going and running a 'small' 21inch non-widescreen (you're supposed to feel pity if you hadn't realised :-) as temporary replacement; so I pondered if I'd disconnected it accidentally. But no, after stretching other cables round to plug it directly into my ADSL filter, it still wouldn't sync up. By this time it was way too late (er... yes..... mutters 4am under breath) so I went to bed and decided to worry about it later.

Going away at the weekend for the wedding meant I didn't really get to try it again til late Sunday, but I got back and it just booted up and worked. To be honest I'd wondered if they had been doing the upgrade, so was watching the system logs and was happy to see it connect at 1100kbps downstream (still only 288kbps upload bandwidth - pah!) and finally to have an explanation for the lack of connectivity (and so not being able to transfer any podcasts for listening to on the 5hr car journey on Friday afternoon/evening), but I do wish they'd let me know somehow before the event. What if I was doing something important requiring a connection, like working?

Tags: adsl