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just installed Skype 4.3 on my laptop (Dell Inspiron N5110) running Ubuntu 14.10 following all the instructions from every possible source but when I try to launch it absolutely nothing happens.

What can I do to get it working? Here's what I get:

andi@Andi:~$ skype
skype: error while loading shared libraries: libGL.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
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  • 1
    What output do you get if you open a terminal window and run the command skype? Please answer by editing your question and adding that piece of info. Dec 2, 2014 at 19:15
  • Here's what I get " andi@Andi:~$ skype skype: error while loading shared libraries: libGL.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory " Dec 2, 2014 at 20:42
  • I suggest that you check out this solution: ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2233005
    – user564480
    Jul 4, 2016 at 10:31

4 Answers 4

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Open a terminal window and try to start Skype with this command (copy and paste):

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/mesa/libGL.so.1 skype

If that's successful, I suggest that you check out this answer to get a persistent solution.

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  • Thank you! I did as you said and it worked! My Skype is running gr8 now! Dec 2, 2014 at 21:04
  • @MateiAlexandru: Great! Then can you please "accept" my answer, so others see that the problem was resolved. Dec 2, 2014 at 21:13
  • sorry to bother you yet again, but what do you mean by "accepting" your answer? I'm kinda' new around here, I switched to linux a few days ago and I ain't very familiar with the procedures :) Dec 2, 2014 at 21:35
  • I've sorted it out! Thank you once again for your help Dec 2, 2014 at 21:41
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This solution worked for me on Ubuntu 16.04

sudo ln -st /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu mesa/libGL.so.1

Make sure you have libgl1-mesa-glx installed.

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  • +1 for mentioning that libgl1-mesa-glx needs to be installed. After installing it, everything worked for me even without making symlinks or setting LD_PRELOAD (though in my case it was Firefox inside a Docker container that didn't work).
    – skozin
    Oct 2, 2016 at 15:30
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For Ubuntu like systems, I confirm that the solution of Gunnar Hjalmarsson works:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/mesa/libGL.so.1 skype

(tested un xUbuntu 16.04) However, it doesn't work for debian.

The solutions for debian are listed here, and the solution for the libGl error is to run

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/mesa-diverted/i386-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/

Then everything works perfectly ! (tested on debian unstable with the debian binary from the official website on november 2016)

-1

If others like me ends up here trying to solve this problem, the solution could be to reinstall bumblebee with the following:

sudo apt-get install bumblebee-nvidia --reinstall

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