Kodi (Media Streaming Software)

Community Wiki
1

Kodi logoKodi

Intro

Kodi is a Free and Open Source (FOSS) client that can replace the interface of the likes of Smart TVs, it supports all variety of entertainment including TV (PVR), Music, Games, Videos (TV Shows, Movies) and Pictures. Kodi relies on content being stored locally or on the internet for things like Youtube (or Network for things like NAS) or hardware to interface with things like TV (PVR) and you can use add-ons1. to extend the experience. Kodi is compatible with most operating systems and hardware, including Apple2., Raspberry Pi, Linux, and Android, see the requirements here for running Kodi.

Notes:

  1. Kodi has an add-ons store to extend the out-of-the-box experience, but keep in mind that add-ons are made by the community and the company itself, so be careful what you install, luckily most software add-ons are also FOSS, meaning the code on them can be inspected, but in general be careful what you install, see the addons site for more.
  2. It is advised against using it for Apple devices (outside of MacOS) as it requires jailbreaking them and jailbreaking reduces the security of the device, we recommend you have a Linux or an Android device for it instead if possible.

Homepage :house:
Documentation :information:
Source Code :technologist:
Contribute :heart:

Setting up/Getting Started, Tips [etc.]

first is buying the equipment then we get to it…

Note: I wanted to make this guide by using a VM, however I’ve been having issues to even get it, first of all debian’s nodm autologin greeter works (completely different argument about it’s outdated nature, and also it would be an easier config for many users normally so there’s that.) (all though distro not recommended by PG), but then controller doesn’t work, on Arch Linux controller works, but nodm is not working. This whole process almost destroyed my life at this rate so I have 3 decisions:
Either:

  1. I guide based on manual launch only
    or
  2. Abandon and wait till I get my equipment to see if it works? But otherwise dm me if you wanna help me out on this.
    or
  3. I do a mixture, recommending Android for painless setup of kodi, using debian to guide autologin and arch for the manual part.

Last edited by @GorujoCY 2025-05-13T21:08:56Z

3

We are not going to allow simple lists of recommendations, because there is too much overlap with the discussions at Site Development > Tool Suggestions and not enough additional information.

What would be acceptable in this section, for example, is a guide on how to set up and/or use Kodi. Otherwise, we will just continue this discussion in the appropriate thread below and your existing GitHub PR:

Your other guide is fine because it is more focused on info about TV hardware.

4

Now that I saw the the thread for Kodi, actually a good idea, we could recommend things like running it in a Linux Sandbox to improve security [Extending with Sandboxing Applications on Desktop Linux and Sandboxing apps with bubblejail in Arch distros ] among other things, I’ll take a look tomorrow as it is getting late and I need to be in full capacity so there’s that.

1 Like
5

This sounds good. If you edit this post to add more of a how-to/config guide let me know and I’ll re-list it.