[janeiro]

Hi everyone

I would like to mod Skype toolbar icons but each time I change an icon inside the "Show package content > Content > resources folder" Skype refuse to launch. When I revert back to my original Skype app, there is no problem.

It seem Skype at launch do some check and refuse to launch if a file has been modified.

I'll appreciate if someone can give a hint.

Thanks Janeiro

PS: sorry for my poor english

[afterglow]

I've been altering the toolbar icons in Skype with no problems. Check the permissions on the files themselves in case you're altering them as well. Was going to post an article on www.creativebits.org in a few weeks about overhauling this very app.....

Originally Posted by janeiro

Hi everyone

I would like to mod Skype toolbar icons but each time I change an icon inside the "Show package content > Content > resources folder" Skype refuse to launch. When I revert back to my original Skype app, there is no problem.

It seem Skype at launch do some check and refuse to launch if a file has been modified.

I'll appreciate if someone can give a hint.

Thanks Janeiro

PS: sorry for my poor english

[janeiro]

Originally Posted by afterglow

I've been altering the toolbar icons in Skype with no problems. Check the permissions on the files themselves in case you're altering them as well. Was going to post an article on www.creativebits.org in a few weeks about overhauling this very app.....

I do it also on many apps (Adium was my last one) but for no reason Skype refuse to work. I already check the file permission and both (original & replacement) have same permissions.

Janeiro

[monkeybrain]

Yeah I've had the same problem as well, despite setting the permissions right. It's very annoying since it's the IM app I use the most now probably (since MSN lacks the voice support etc on Mac).

afterglow, mind sharing what icons you change the toolbar icons to? The default Skype ones are pretty rubbish.

[afterglow]

not quite finished at the moment but should be soon and I'll post them in the thread when they're ready.

[timmerk]

afterglow: any updates? skype's interface sucks!

[afterglow]

Originally Posted by timmerk

afterglow: any updates? skype's interface sucks!

I had upgraded the version of skype I was using (must have been fairly early) and ran into the same integrity check issue on startup so I'd say it's a bit dead in the water unless Skype changes the code or you can fool it through hacking. Sorry about that.

[timmerk]

no problem.. i just wish they would hire some good GUI designers.. i don't need buttons and icons that take about 1/4 of my screen.

[/b/.]

Originally Posted by timmerk

no problem.. i just wish they would hire some good GUI designers.. i don't need buttons and icons that take about 1/4 of my screen.

..and look like they got ripped straight from Windows, ugh.

[spambot]

Beta of a new version of Skype released yesterday is much less huge and hideous and has many more customization options. Of particular note is that there finally is an interface for switching the chat styles (the format is not quite identical to Adium messagestyles unfortunately, but converting them should be trivial). Chat styles are read from ~/Library/Application Support/Skype/ChatStyles/ (you can copy one from Skype.app/Contents/Resources/ChatStyles/ as a base to work from in building a new.)

This should be good news, but is not nearly good enough, regrettably.
They still do the integrity checks on program launch, and the EULA still includes express prohibitions against any altering of the interface (so if you accept the EULA as a contract it is illegal to make use of the options to change messagestyles). The integrity check still interferes with altering the EULA.

The same old hack to bypass the integrity check of sending a kill -STOP to Skype's procid after the splashscreen appears, then swapping whatever file you want to swap (eg, Skype.app/Contents/Resources/English.lprof/EULA.nib), and then sending a kill -CONT to skype's procid still works.
The integrity check occurs at every launch, so the Skype.app package needs to be in its unaltered state at the beginning of every launch, interrupted, files swapped, then loading continued. This can be accomplished fairly easily by wrapping Skype in a launch script that swaps the original files into Skype.app, opens skype, interrupts, swaps in the preferred files, and then resumes Skype. Then run that script instead of directly launching Skype.
Inter alia, this makes it possible to change other aspects of Skype's interface than just the chat styles. The rest is just up to the Interface Builder gurus.

If you are in a jurisdiction where the EULA would be treated as a valid contract, replacing the EULA on first launch with something less unreasonable makes it not clearly illegal to make changes to the interface (like using the feature to swap chat styles). The downsides are that you lose the couple protections that Skype's EULA does give you (their promise to not sell your personal information, etc), and that this might be treated as some sort of fraud.