2023-04-03, 18:48
So after much messing around with ADB, I've found a solution to backup and restore. The Backup addon. YES it was there staring me in the face all along 
I did try this initially but it kept failing, and I now know why. There is some kind of weird permissions thing going on with Android 12 from what I can tell. ADB is unable to write to the .kodi folder but it is able to read. Likewise Kodi is able to browse anywhere on internal storage but it's unable to browse past /storage/self/primary/Android/data/ . It's also unable to read files created with the ADB user and write to anywhere out of /storage/self/primary/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi
I was trying to backup to the /storage/self/primary/Download directory which wasn't working. In the end I backed up straight onto a network SMB EXT Linux drive, I'm not sure if other network file systems/OS work at this point due to the file permission limitations.
If you don't have a remote SMB server to backup onto you could try this:
1. Enable web server in Settings>Control>Allow control via HTTP
2. Open web browser with the ip of kodi + :8080
3. Go to file manager and add source then select <none> (not browse) and enter this in the pop up in web browser:
5. Run the backup and then move it with File Manager to /storage/self/primary/Download where you should be able to copy it off with another file manager app (this part is untested as I used a SMB network source)
6. Test restoring it after clearing data in Android settings. (Or maybe just remove a test file if you want to be cautious)
The only thing I couldn't get to restore was guisettings.xml as this is written on exit. Maybe force closing from Android settings after a backup would work?
I did try this initially but it kept failing, and I now know why. There is some kind of weird permissions thing going on with Android 12 from what I can tell. ADB is unable to write to the .kodi folder but it is able to read. Likewise Kodi is able to browse anywhere on internal storage but it's unable to browse past /storage/self/primary/Android/data/ . It's also unable to read files created with the ADB user and write to anywhere out of /storage/self/primary/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi
I was trying to backup to the /storage/self/primary/Download directory which wasn't working. In the end I backed up straight onto a network SMB EXT Linux drive, I'm not sure if other network file systems/OS work at this point due to the file permission limitations.
If you don't have a remote SMB server to backup onto you could try this:
1. Enable web server in Settings>Control>Allow control via HTTP
2. Open web browser with the ip of kodi + :8080
3. Go to file manager and add source then select <none> (not browse) and enter this in the pop up in web browser:
4. Install backup addon and under settings change the Remote Dir in Backup addon to be the .kodi folder source we created in file manager (.kodi by default)/storage/self/primary/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi:/storage/self/primary/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi
5. Run the backup and then move it with File Manager to /storage/self/primary/Download where you should be able to copy it off with another file manager app (this part is untested as I used a SMB network source)
6. Test restoring it after clearing data in Android settings. (Or maybe just remove a test file if you want to be cautious)
The only thing I couldn't get to restore was guisettings.xml as this is written on exit. Maybe force closing from Android settings after a backup would work?
