skypelog.py -- read and save Skype Linux chat history in Python. Skype for Linux stores user chat history in binary *.dbb files. skypelog.py implements classes to easily access data in these file in Python. I couldn't find a working solution for Linux to export/backup chat history. D-Bus API does not give access to old messages, at least I couldn't make it work. (possibly a bug, in theory it should work and there is evidence that it did before). The information on the structure of the DBB files is quite scarce. This script can serve as a starting point to further investigate the format of these files. Running the script directly will show two basic options --json {compact,full} dump chat messages into single js file (for each account) compact - saves only basic information, full - everything output is unsorted and lacks wrapping curly braces --html save conversations for each account/contact pair in a separate *.html file (relies on 'dialog_partner', so group chats are not handled properly) One can use skypelog.py as a module, then the following classes will be useful: (see example in apiuse.py) class SkypeDBB -- generic DBB file reader __init__ requires file name and (optionally) maximum record size maximum record size can be determined from the file name if omitted (e.g. chatmsg512.dbb has maximum record size 512) records() -- iterates over all records in file returns dictionary with numeric field types as keys readrecord(NUM) -- returns dictionary for NUM'th record in file (counts from 0) class SkypeObject -- base class for DBB records class SkypeMsgDBB(SkypeDBB) -- chatmsgDDDD.dbb file reader reading methods return SkypeMsg instead of 'dict' class SkypeMsg -- provides human-readable field names for chat message record formatting function to convert to full JSON (with all fields) and shortened versions of JSON and HTML (as in client UI) class SkypeAccDBB(SkypeDBB) -- profileDDDD.dbb file reader reading methods return SkypeAcc instead of 'dict' class SkypeAcc -- provides human-readable field names for account record class SkypeContactDBB(SkypeDBB) -- userDDDD.dbb file reader reading methods return SkypeContact instead of 'dict' class SkypeContact -- provides human-readable field names for contacts record Interesting discussion of the *.dbb file format: http://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/231-Skype-Logs.html http://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/231-Skype-Logs.html#c1055