On a fresh install of Ubuntu 24.04, Skype has the following problems:
The main Skype window only appears on the first launch. On subsequent launches, the window cannot be shown or restored, but the tray icon remains visible.
If I close Skype and remove the stored credentials from my keyring, the window sometimes appears after a couple of relaunches, allowing me to log in once. After that, the cycle restarts.
The Skype icon in the dock always shows as a generic application icon.
I have attempted to reinstall Skype, but this has not resolved the issues.
The same thing (blank Skype window) started happening to me after I switched the option “Launch Skype in the background” on from the settings. Did you change that option perhaps?
In my case, I could never get the window to show, as it happens to you sometimes, so I had to uninstall and also find (with snap saved) and remove (with snap forget number-corresponding-to-Skype) the relevant snapshot.
I am on the same Skype and Ubuntu version but with different hardware. I could also see the libGL errors you mentioned (same first line, iris instead of radeonsi in the second one) but that happened even when the window opened normally for me, so it should not be relevant.
I have had the same problem as mentioned by VourMa above but that was a long time ago now so I’ve no experience of it more recently as I now only start Skype when I need it and do not run in in the background.
Your comment “Maybe the Skype snap can access the radeonsi kernel module?” makes me think that you’re not using the snap version but if that’s the case, where did you get Skype and how did you install it?
This is not just a skype issue, it happens to a few other apps such as gnu octave too (good ole deb package)
It only happens in gnome shell (both xorg and wayland). I normally work in unity and it is fine there. Not sure if it is because of gnome shell + Nvidia or something else. P.S I use skype in flatpak, no problem there even in gnome shell.
Do you have Unity and gnome installed on the same system?
IIRC Unity used to use some patches and configs that might probably have impact here (not sure they still do though but there were things like preloading libs to prevent client side window decorations and such)
But it could also be some gnome extensions I installed. I am not going to trouble shoot it right now since I don’t really use gnome shell. May look at it in the weekend.
However, I discovered that Skype still publishes a Debian package. I installed that version, and now Skype works as expected. The Debian wiki provides instructions for installing Skype: https://wiki.debian.org/skype. The .deb package also configures Skype’s deb repository.
I am aware that there is a .deb package but it is for Debian and not Ubuntu.
I did try the .deb version a long time ago and it installed fine but did not run properly and now appears to be a long way out of date though I admit I have not used it from that downloaded .deb yet though it is version 8.109.0.209 while the snap is version 8.134.0.202.
Much as I would prefer the .deb version I shall stick with the snap version which works better than Skype ever has in the past
The flatpak package works well here on Ubuntu 24.04.1. I prefer flatpak as it doesn’t have to mount a whole bunch of volumes and it is easy to control access to file system and permission through flatseal.
snaps do have full access to the hosts graphics drivers through the opengl interface which auto-connects for all desktop apps by default, the missing icon is rather a matter of desktop integration misbehaving and you should report it to skype themselves so it can be fixed by their packagers (they maintain the snap themselves) …
Good to know that rules out graphics drivers as the cause. But I still find it odd that I’m seeing these errors when launching Skype from the console:
libGL error: failed to create dri screen
libGL error: failed to load driver: radeonsi
I do have a laptop with Intel graphics running Ubuntu 24.04 where the Skype snap works just fine.
While the icon issue is minor, the bigger problem is that the main application window doesn’t appear at all, making Skype completely unusable.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to report this issue to Skype. Do you know the correct way to do so?
I already tried their chat support, but the agent insisted that Skype doesn’t support Linux and told me to use web.skype.com, refusing to acknowledge that Skype even publishes a Linux version. So, that doesn’t seem like a viable way to report the problem and I couldn’t find any other way to get in touch with Skype on their website.
I found that this worked for Octave main window not showing even when app is running. Not sure if it applies for your case because the description of the symptom is similar even though the app is different and it is not a snap (snap may not be the culprit, I think in my case there may be some funky things going on with gnome shell and some qt versions, the GUI for skype’s Linux version apparently is also written in qt)
If launch in terminal
either
gtk launch octave.desktop #run .dsktop file from terminal
or
octave --gui
so in your case try
gtk launch skype.desktop # the .desktop file may not be called skype.desktop. I don’t know #how they name it in snap, you have to find out yourself.
Both work. There is no error message in both cases. Main window renders.
But clicking the launcher icon doesn’t show the main window whether the launcher is pinned to the gnome-dock or the gnome-dash. App is running in the background.
This is a Nvidia machine with optimus switchable graphic. Same result running in the discrete Nvidia card or the intel integrated graphic card.
Edited: you can also try the skype flatpak and see if the same problem persists. I use the flatpak and don’t have the problem you described.