Skype installation on Debian 12 via snap fails

snap
1

On Debian 12 “bookworm”,

# snap list
Name               Version                     Rev    Tracking       Publisher   Notes
bare               1.0                         5      latest/stable  canonical✓  base
core               16-2.61.2                   16928  latest/stable  canonical✓  core
core18             20240416                    2823   latest/stable  canonical✓  base
gnome-3-28-1804    3.28.0-19-g98f9e67.98f9e67  198    latest/stable  canonical✓  -
gtk-common-themes  0.1-81-g442e511             1535   latest/stable  canonical✓  -
snapd              2.63
#  time snap install skype
error: cannot perform the following tasks:
- Run configure hook of "skype" snap if present (run hook "configure": 
-----
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf", line 5: unknown element "description"
/usr/share/fonts: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 11 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 7 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi: caching, new cache contents: 358 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi: caching, new cache contents: 358 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1: caching, new cache contents: 80 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/encodings: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 1 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/encodings/large: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc: caching, new cache contents: 92 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/util: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/cMap: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/cmap: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/eot: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 1 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/eot/roboto-fontface: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 2 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/eot/roboto-fontface/roboto: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/eot/roboto-fontface/roboto-condensed: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/fonts-go: caching, new cache contents: 12 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/liberation-fonts-ttf-2.1.2: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 30 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/alegreya-sans: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/artemisia: caching, new cache contents: 4 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/asana-math: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/cabin: caching, new cache contents: 8 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/cantarell: caching, new cache contents: 5 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/comic-neue: caching, new cache contents: 6 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/complutum: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/didot: caching, new cache contents: 4 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/ebgaramond: caching, new cache contents: 6 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/font-awesome: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/fonts-hosny-amiri: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/fonts-hosny-thabit: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/freefont: caching, new cache contents: 12 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/inter: caching, new cache contents: 36 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/ipafont-gothic: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/ipafont-mincho: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/linux-libertine: caching, new cache contents: 13 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/lobster: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/lobstertwo: caching, new cache contents: 4 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/malayalam: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/neohellenic: caching, new cache contents: 4 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/noto: 
<exceeded maximum runtime of 5m0s>
-----)

real    5m33,684s
user    0m6,217s
sys     0m2,961s
# head /etc/fonts/fonts.conf
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "urn:fontconfig:fonts.dtd">
<!-- /etc/fonts/fonts.conf file to configure system font access -->
<fontconfig>
        <description>Default configuration file</description>

<!--
        DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE.
        IT WILL BE REPLACED WHEN FONTCONFIG IS UPDATED.
        LOCAL CHANGES BELONG IN 'local.conf'.
# time fc-cache -rf

real    2m4,235s
user    1m5,493s
sys     0m22,617s

Line 5 of /etc/fonts/fonts.conf seems fine, so the “Fontconfig warning” is probably bogus. Who is the culprit, and what to do?

As for the timeout “<exceeded maximum runtime of 5m0s>”, which internal command does it come from, and what to do?

Any chance to install skype via snap on Debian 12, or the hell with both of them?

2

Have you tried re-installing ?

snap remove skype --purge

rm -rf ~/snap/skype

snap install skype

1 Like
3

No, but now I’ll try. The result is the same:

# snap remove skype --purge
snap "skype" is not installed
# rm -rf ~/snap/skype
# snap install skype
error: cannot perform the following tasks:
- Run configure hook of "skype" snap if present (run hook "configure": 
-----
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf", line 5: unknown element "description"
/usr/share/fonts: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 11 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 7 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi: caching, new cache contents: 358 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi: caching, new cache contents: 358 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1: caching, new cache contents: 80 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/encodings: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 1 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/encodings/large: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc: caching, new cache contents: 92 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/util: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/cMap: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/cmap: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/eot: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 1 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/eot/roboto-fontface: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 2 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/eot/roboto-fontface/roboto: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/eot/roboto-fontface/roboto-condensed: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/fonts-go: caching, new cache contents: 12 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/liberation-fonts-ttf-2.1.2: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 30 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/alegreya-sans: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/artemisia: caching, new cache contents: 4 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/asana-math: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/cabin: caching, new cache contents: 8 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/cantarell: caching, new cache contents: 5 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/comic-neue: caching, new cache contents: 6 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/complutum: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/didot: caching, new cache contents: 4 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/ebgaramond: caching, new cache contents: 6 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/font-awesome: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/fonts-hosny-amiri: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/fonts-hosny-thabit: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/freefont: caching, new cache contents: 12 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/inter: caching, new cache contents: 36 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/ipafont-gothic: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/ipafont-mincho: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/linux-libertine: caching, new cache contents: 13 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/lobster: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/lobstertwo: caching, new cache contents: 4 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/malayalam: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/neohellenic: caching, new cache contents: 4 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/noto: 
<exceeded maximum runtime of 5m0s>
-----)
4

My bad, can you try the solution here https://askubuntu.com/questions/1509523/error-installing-skype-snap

It happens when you have a improper download of the snap, like for e.g. You try installing skype and then cancel it midway but still snapd downloads core18 & the extension but not skype, then you download skype separately . In that case i believe snapd fails to properly setup the snap.

It happened several times to me when i tried saving cellular data to download extension,core & snap separately .

I don’t know a perfect solution but it seems purging all the extensions & cores needed by the snap and then installing them altogether with the snap itself seems to be a workaround. Although don’t end up removing snapd essentials like snapd & core itself.

In your case the solution seems to be ;

snap remove gnome-3-28-1804 --purge
snap remove core18 --purge
exec $SHELL #Just for assurance
snap install skype
5

I might try this at the next reboot in a few days or weeks. In the meantime, which program prints out the bogus warning? Also, which program has the aforementioned timeout of 5 minutes?

6

My progress here was blocked by “error: cannot communicate with server: timeout exceeded while waiting for response” on a fresh system when installing core . With so many issues during installation, I personally consider skype practically dead.