New Kodi snap package for testing >= Ubuntu 16.04
#1
Hello

More and more snap packages are available for Ubuntu-based systems. So we (in particular wsnipex Wink ) are happy to provide a Kodi snap package as well. Note, that this is in a pretty early state and things might not work as expected. But feel free to report if you find something.

The Kodi snap package we are providing here contains Kodi 18 Alpha 1

Requirements on the OS:

- AFAIK you will at least need Ubuntu 16.04, as this contains the necessary packages: snapd and snap-confine. To check if those are available, do:

Code:
apt-cache policy snapd
and
Code:
apt-cache policy snap-confine

Install those packages please, if they are not installed for whatever reason by entering:

Code:
sudo apt-get install snapd snap-confine

Please note, that if you are using a different OS, that it might be hard to help. For this package (for now) Ubuntu at least in the version 16.04 is the recommended OS.

Installing Kodi via snap:

The Kodi snap package is available from the "edge"-channel. To get a list of available channels open a terminal and enter:

Code:
snap install --help

To install a package from a given channel, the syntax looks like this: sudo snap install --<channel_name> <package_name>

For installing Kodi from the edge channel just enter:

Code:
sudo snap install --edge kodi

Depending on your internet connection that might last a bit.

To connect all snap interfaces, please run the following from the command line:

Code:
for PERM in alsa avahi-observe hardware-observe locale-control mount-observe network-observe removable-media shutdown system-observe; do sudo snap connect kodi:${PERM}; done

After that, just start Kodi from command line like this:

Code:
snap run kodi

To exit Kodi, just use the normal "Exit" option from the Kodi GUI or just use CTRL+c from the keyboard on the terminal window.

Kodis home directory is now located under: ~/snap/kodi
The userdata folder (and all the other common sufolders) will be under: ~/snap/kodi/current/.kodi

Limitations:

You can't browse anything outside ~/snap/kodi. So if you are using system mounts, the mountpoint has to be inside Kodis snap home directory. The normal NFS mounts inside Kodi (add-source->browse->network file system - for example) works. But if there's something mounted in /media, you won't be able to access it. So please mount your system mounts to Kodis home directory as well if you are using smb or nfs shares.

Deinstalling:

To remove the Kodi snap installation from your system, just enter:

Code:
snap remove kodi

Have fun testing Wink
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#2
where are the packaging files at?
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#3
https://github.com/wsnipex/xbmc/commits/snap

will merge to master once tested and refined. I dislike https://github.com/wsnipex/xbmc/commit/3...3956766235 in particular.
Snap only allows lowering priority (only positive values) but I didn't get it working so that we at least set those lower priorities where possible and keep 0 for the rest.
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#4
great, i was only curious / want to learn from some deb base i know.
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#5
how is your impression of the maturity of the tools? e.g. i see you play with generic cmake flags..
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#6
it appears to run fine on my system.

issues encountered: nasty filesystem list (to be expected), vdpau backend is not accessible. possibly related to https://bugs.launchpad.net/snappy/+bug/1579787 ?
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#7
(2017-05-29, 15:45)ironic_monkey Wrote: it appears to run fine on my system.

issues encountered: nasty filesystem list (to be expected), vdpau backend is not accessible. possibly related to https://bugs.launchpad.net/snappy/+bug/1579787 ?

Testing with vaapi yesterday was working with the SNAP package.
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
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#8
Definitely related yes.
I didn't have a chance to test vdpau at all. Given the issues I had getting vaapi to work, it doesn't really surprise me if vdpau doesn't work.
Something like https://github.com/wsnipex/xbmc/blob/6ae...in#L32-L37 is probably needed for vdpau as well


Edit: the general snapcraft tooling is working ok enough. Snapd interfaces/plugs still need some work for complex applications like kodi, but they have come a long way from when I first looked at it.
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#9
sadly i cannot test vaapi as i do not have a working backend, neither on my os nor in the snap (legacy nvidia driver and old quattro's..)

vdpau runs fine on my os, and it does not in the snap.
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#10
I've uploaded a new version that fixes vdpau on nvidia(at least for me). The fix is pretty hacky and might very well conflict with vdpau on AMD, but please test and let me know.
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#11
i see no update. too eager?
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#12
$ snap info kodi
name: kodi
summary: "Kodi Media Center"
publisher: wsnipex
contact: http://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=52
description: |
Kodi Media Center
commands:
- kodi
tracking: edge
installed: 18.0-alpha1 (6) 260MB -
refreshed: 2017-05-31 10:20:37 +0200 CEST
channels:
latest/edge: 18.0-alpha1 (6) 260MB -
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#13
apparently this new-fangled shit auto-updates in the background. ack, vdpau now works.
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#14
oh btw:
once you connect the removable-media plug, you can access /media/[your_username]/* but you must add the source manually in kodi by typing the path. You just cannot browse there.
Also /home/[your_username] is accessible in the same way
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#15
Hello wsnipex,

thank you for this Snap Package.

It's possibly out of scope, but I tried this snap package on Ubuntu Core. And when I do the run command I got this message:

Code:
/snap/kodi/6/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/kodi/kodi.bin: error while loading shared libraries: libjson-c.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I don't know if it's related but here the snap interfaces kodi result:
Code:
:alsa               alsa-utils,kodi
:hardware-observe   kodi,upower
:home               kodi
:joystick           kodi
:mount-observe      kodi,udisks2
:network            avahi,kodi,nextcloud,noip-client,pulseaudio,snapweb
:network-bind       avahi,kodi,nextcloud,snapweb,udisks2
:network-observe    kodi
:opengl             kodi,mir-kiosk
:removable-media    kodi
:shutdown           kodi,snapweb
:system-observe     kodi
mir-kiosk:mir       kodi
pulseaudio:service  kodi:pulseaudio,pulseaudio:client
upower:service      kodi:upower-observe,upower:client
-                   kodi:avahi-observe
-                   kodi:dbus-avahi
-                   kodi:dbus-login1
-                   kodi:dbus-upower
-                   kodi:locale-control
-                   kodi:optical-drive
-                   kodi:screen-inhibit-control
-                   kodi:udisks2
-                   kodi:unity7
-                   kodi:x11

EDIT: After some search. I was using a Beta version of Ubuntu Core. refreshing to the Stable version fix this problem, but I have now a different error:
Code:
snap run kodi
couldn't open play stream: No such file or directory
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New Kodi snap package for testing >= Ubuntu 16.042