[RockerC]

Just read that slouken (Sam Lantinga) from Valve and libsdl has announced that the Steam Link software (Steam streaming client for Linux) is now in BETA on Raspberry Pi 3/3+

https://steamcommunity.com/app/353380/di...093948391/   ( and also here https://steamcommunity.com/app/353380/di...093954254/ )

Now that the original Steam Link hardware is being discontinued by Valve a Steam Link game client addon for Kodi would be very interesting

https://steamcommunity.com/app/353380/discussions/6/

This is basically the same concept as the Moonlight addon that was being discussed and developed in GSoC but with the exception that was for NVIDIA GameStream instead of Steam

https:/forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=220965

I understand that slouken and garbear were in contact before when Kodi was ported to run on the original Steam Link hardware, perhaps he can convince Valve management?

https://github.com/slouken

https://github.com/garbear/kodi-steamlink

[ZatarraNL]

I'm no developer, but I very much agree to this idea.

[swetoast]

got that "working" for OSMC

https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/regarding-steamlink/76800

https://github.com/swetoast/steamlink-launcher/

Been in contact with Sam there are some minor details to sort out like a proper exit button but other then that its pretty much straight forward with OSMC

[RockerC]

got that "working" for OSMC

https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/regarding-steamlink/76800

https://github.com/swetoast/steamlink-launcher/

Been in contact with Sam there are some minor details to sort out like a proper exit button but other then that its pretty much straight forward with OSMC

Sorry but you misunderstood this request. What you suggest is just a launcher, it would be like launching any third-party game or app, that is however not "game client addon for Kodi" which is what I requested.

This request is for a native "game client addon for Kodi" which would imply that it do not actually exist Kodi when you start it, instead, it runs as an inside of Kodi, that is how libretro cores run with RetroPlayer.

As a reference for something similar you can checkout the C API Moonlight addon (for NVIDIA GameStream) that was being discussed and developed here https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=220965

That is, using this concept Kodi becomes the streaming client, so it does not just use a script or command to launch an external third-party streaming client which Kodi then once launched have no control over.

Thus, no offense but discussing the launching of an external third-party streaming client like the existing Steam Link app via a script is off-topic for this thread. That is not the same thing as discussed here.

[swetoast]

a pure client is not likely to happens since the software is proprietary and this is is an addon just not for every distro since the bin looks for certain libs when it starts, thus requiring a proper package handler.

[garbear]

Correct, a pure client is not likely since the Steam Link streaming protocol is proprietary. This would require the protocol to be reverse-engineered and an open source library written which we could use in a game client add-on.

[RockerC]

Correct, a pure client is not likely since the Steam Link streaming protocol is proprietary. This would require the protocol to be reverse-engineered and an open source library written which we could use in a game client add-on.

 What if Valve released a closed source library for the proprietary Steam Link streaming protocol (a.k.a. a binary blob), coulld that then be made into a binary addon for Kodi without violating GPL?

[swetoast]

it is a binary blob already and its working as an addon not sure wtf your after ..

[garbear]

Correct, a pure client is not likely since the Steam Link streaming protocol is proprietary. This would require the protocol to be reverse-engineered and an open source library written which we could use in a game client add-on.

 What if Valve released a closed source library for the proprietary Steam Link streaming protocol (a.k.a. a binary blob), coulld that then be made into a binary addon for Kodi without violating GPL? 

  
The answer to your question is yes, there are no GPL violations because the GPL doesn't extend across the binary add-on interface (one of the reasons why we adopted binary add-ons in the first place).

The main concern is, if it's closed source, why should we care to build around it? We certainly won't allow it in our add-on browser.

[RockerC]

it is a binary blob already and its working as an addon not sure wtf your after ..

The difference is running proprietary Steam Link streaming protocol inside Kodi, having Kodi's internal RetroPlayer play the stream using Kodi's rendering system (which is what I am asking for here be able to keep using Kodi's GUI engine as everything is running within Kodi's own runtime), or having Kodi launch an external executable version of the client (which is the approach that you promote).

To make a relative comparison its that's like the difference Kodi having using RetroPlayer to play libretro cores which means you can use Kodi's skinning engine to skin the GUI including OSD, or having a script in Kodi just launch RetroArch as an external program to play a game.

To make a other comparison it like the difference between Kodi playing a movie with its internal video player or it launching an external video player like CyberLink PowerDVD which it turn plays the video file, and while a such solution might be satisfactory to some people I think that it ruins the Kodi experience from an end-users perspective. 

I can not explain it better so if you still don't understand the difference then just please trust us that it is really a huge difference in end-user experience and please respect that I do not want to discuss the launching of an external client any further in this thread as that is off-topic here.