How to connect Skypeforlinux (and other programs) on Debian 9 through proxy

Question

I have found this: http://xpo6.com/skype-for-linux-behind-a-proxy-server/ changed the ip address and the port, but it still does not work. Then I tried

> export http_proxy='http://username:password@ip_address:port_number/' &&'

which is what I use in my

> /etc/apt/apt.conf

To be able to use aptitude/apt-get under the proxy. Still no luck. Any hints on how to change the script? The script from the above link is:

> #!/bin/bash
SCRIPT=$(readlink -f "$0")
USR_DIRECTORY=$(readlink -f $(dirname $SCRIPT)/..)
SKYPE_PATH="$USR_DIRECTORY/share/skypeforlinux/skypeforlinux"
SKYPE_LOGS="$HOME/.config/skypeforlinux/logs"
mkdir -p $SKYPE_LOGS
export http_proxy='proxy.server:8888' &&
export https_proxy='proxy.server:8888' &&
nohup "$SKYPE_PATH" --executed-from="$(pwd)" --pid=$$ "$@" > "$SK

YPE_LOGS/skype-startup.log" 2>&1 &

I have the same problem with programs like MegaSync, Dropbox, Anki.

Answer 1

http_proxy and https_proxy are the standard settings for configuring HTTP proxies for applications. They work for APT because it uses HTTP (by default) to download packages and package information. They won't work though for many other network applications because most stuff does not use HTTP. From a practical perspective, you're likely going to have to use a SOCKS proxy (SOCKS is a more generic protocol designed specifically for proxying outbound network traffic), or a VPN with a remote router. For the first case, you would need to set socks_proxy will work for some things that support SOCKS natively, but you'll need other tools to handle the second (there's a command called socksify that you can use to wrap applications without native SOCKS support). For the second case, you shouldn't have to do anything locally, but unlike with SOCKS, you probably won't be able to find a free VPN setup with a remote router (though there are multiple paid options at leas tin the US).