Kodi Compatibility Limits
#1
Hi All,
Let me first say I really like Kodi and applaud all the effort the developers and supports put into Kodi.

I just want to say I am a little saddened by the lack of support for Debian-based Linux distros that are not Ubuntu. (ex: Linux Mint).

One of the biggest points of open source is that is is better than mainstream AND free. Most of the Linux community - especially in the Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Elementary, Arch, etc. - espouse the enormous library of free software available for the distribution base. So users were free to chose a distro that would fit their purpose, and hardware, and also have access to the base software available.

I have discovered that Kodi does not necessarily support, or try to test, their builds on anything other than Ubuntu. Should a distro have minor changes - in order to keep current or improve function/performance - it would likely affect Kodi. Two examples are Linux Mint 18.x having 'Movie Set' issues and Linux Mint 19 (release is this weekend) not connecting to certain networks. Switching back to older versions of Linux Mint (17.2) and installing the current Kodi resolved those issues.

I have no ill will to the Kodi developers or community and this is simply a statement of affairs to help those who are trying to decide which OS might work best with Kodi.

Having said that, I used the most current stable build provided in the default repositories included in Linux Mint 18.x and 19.x and still have issues. I plan to bring this to the attention of Clem and the Linux Mint community to see if this can be resolved on their end or if Kodi should be removed from current 'Software Manager' libraries so as not to frustrate current users.

Windows does not have this issue with Kodi and the older versions of Mint 17.x, and probably before, have no major issues.

It would be great if Kodi provided .deb files that users could download so they could use the built-in package installer to install older versions of the software.

Thanks and keep up the good work.
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#2
One of the key values of open source is contributing.

There are more than 1000 different Linux distributions on this planet. Team kodi for sure cannot test them all.

Also the world is not deb only. Who helps rpm, who tar.gz? See: providing a distribution brings great responsibility, especially if the desktop implementation acts differently to all others out there.
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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#3
I really agree with really everything you said. However, there were several premise's that I was using when I made the statement:

1) "Generally I wouldn't recommend using Mint at all. If you are goiing to use something *buntu-like, then I would recommend to use Ubuntu and nothing else. Btw. Ubuntu is the recommended Linux Distro while using Kodi." - is a quote from DaVu so I was lead to believe that kodi is focused on Debian rather the 1000's of other distros.

2) I was focusing, not on very specialized distros, but rather the top 10 distros that have the largest user bases. Among them Linux Mint usually is the next right after Ubuntu.

3) Kodi was working fine up until Linux Mint 18.x.

4) "Kodi runs on just about anything" is on the main page of the Kodi web site.

There are other small things like, reading through the forums, there are similar issues but I realized that I found the best course of action on my part would be to move on. At the end of the day, I actually don't have a problem with Mint 17.x so I will use that for now.

I plan to evaluate how Kodi works with Mint 17. Again, if it works well then I would recommend that to anyone who enjoys the style and options made available by Linux Mint to use versions 17.x.

If I find that I can run Kodi, properly, on a live version that is current then that would be great too. Thank you always for your help and for making an amazing program.
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#4
(2018-06-29, 09:09)FrontierOfSpace Wrote: 1) "Generally I wouldn't recommend using Mint at all. If you are goiing to use something *buntu-like, then I would recommend to use Ubuntu and nothing else. Btw. Ubuntu is the recommended Linux Distro while using Kodi." - is a quote from DaVu so I was lead to believe that kodi is focused on Debian rather the 1000's of other distros.

I said that, and that´s correct. Debian packages their own things in regard to Kodi. The Kodi version provided by Debian was changed by Debian themself. Hence you will see something like "Kodi for Debian" while installing Kodi from their official repo. The repository we provide to receive Kodi from, can´t be used while using Debian. Debian also provides a different ffmpeg version than the one which is recommended. For example, they ship ffmpeg 3.4.1 by default for Kodi 17.6 IIRC. Kodi 17.6 needs ffmpeg 3.1. To properly use Kodi on Debian I (and that´s my personal opinion) would recommend to compile Kodi from source.

Similiar things come in touch while using Mint. AFAIK Mint grabs a bit from here and a bit from there and creates an OS out of those sources. Installing Kodi from the official Ubuntu repository will also get you a "Kodi for Debian" installation. Hence why we recommend to install Kodi from the Kodi repository on Ubunu.
(2018-06-29, 09:09)FrontierOfSpace Wrote: 4) "Kodi runs on just about anything" is on the main page of the Kodi web site.

And that´s true. You are able to compile Kodi on nearly every distro and especially for the most common distros. Compile instructions can be found here: https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/tree/master/docs

Update of those instructions are in work for other distros as well. There´s already a PR for that which is in current testing.
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#5
Like DaVu said, from what we have encountered in Kodi forum posts during the last 1-1.5 years, is that Debian itself and Ubuntu Mint for different reasons are the two distros that have the most quirks with Kodi 17. And that plain Ubuntu overall 'simply works', provided that the used hardware is reasonably compatible.

But we're looking forward to your evaluations Smile
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#6
Quote:4) "Kodi runs on just about anything" is on the main page of the Kodi web site."

I can't disagree more with this statement. It is pure bullshit. It depends a lot on the hardware, OS, and drivers what you get from a system. Kodi runs on odroid or raspberry pi but user experience is way below from what you can get from an up-to-date OpenGL system.
Just having Kodi run on something not enough. Most of the users want to watch movies.
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#7
(2018-06-29, 20:24)FernetMenta Wrote: Just having Kodi run on something not enough. Most of the users want to watch movies.
Agreed - people don't just "want it to run", they want a good multimedia experience.

But "Kodi runs on just about anything" isn't saying "Kodi is fully supported, no matter the many variations in hardware, OS and drivers". 

I can see there needs to be balance between trying to advance the product and trying to support it (the challenges of DevOps, right?) and focussing support efforts on a popular distro like Ubuntu feels like the safest option.  People that just want a Linux disto underpinning their media box would be best advised towards Ubuntu; those that have chosen other distros are more likely to be capable of researching issues and/or seeking community help such as here.

Although I'm a RedHat nerd I opted for the XBMCbuntu route because I wanted a media box and haven't really messed around much with XFree86 to configure a RPM-based system.  That doesn't mean it's impossible; I have a colleague that ran XBMC off CentOS then later Kodi off ScientificLinux, but he uses them as desktop systems so is much more familiar with the intricacies of getting sound and video working well.
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#8
Umm, It is important to fly with the most popular distos. Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Mint - cinnamon are ALL main stream. getting things to work on - at least - the major distros would be best.

SuSe, RedHat and others probably focus on business so Kodi is more of a non-issue.

Hope this gets resolved.
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#9
Any help is welcome. In the meantime: we provide official ubuntu packages, which usually work just fine on all the ubuntu variants.
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