Many thanks for that, it looks very useful. But may I just ask what's wrong with using yum install skype from the skype repo?
The yum repo doesn't seem to be maintained anymore.
I use the latest static version on CentOS 5.4 x86_64 and it works fine. I just untar it in /opt, ln -s to /opt/skype and create a launcher on my Desktop.
Mathieu