A hack to continue with Skype 6.3 on MacOS 10.5.8

Today Skype users on MacOS 10.5.8 were surprised again that Skype rejected the login and requested to upgrade to a new version. Navigating to the new version download announced once again:

This had happened in the past and the solutions then ranged from installing every old versions of Skype (2.8) to tampering with certain system settings, last year Skype released an officially supported version 6.3 for MacOS 10.5.8 but this only lasted until today.

So I tried various things and a variation of earlier solutions did it for me which I would like to share with the community. In summary: trick Skype into thinking that you are running a higher version than 6.3.

Change 3 settings in the info.plist file

First of all quit Skype so that no Skype process is running anymore

Open info.plist with the property editor (in Finder -> Applications choose Skype, right-mouse click and choose Show Package Contents, in the new window double-click on Contents and double-click on info.plist )

Change

BuildMachineOSBuild
 12F45
Bundle versions string, short
 6.15
Bundle version
 6.15.0.330

The previous settings were for me 6.3.0.604 and 12C3103.

Close the property editor and Save the file

Change the /etc/hosts file

This prevents that your network contacts the Skype download server.

Edit the /etc/hosts file (with your editor of choice)

Enter this line

127.0.0.1       ui.skype.com

Start Skype and login again

There you go.
Let's wait and see until this solution becomes obsolete.