A headless install of kodi in a docker container. Commonly used with MySQL Kodi setup to allow library updates via web interface.

https://hub.docker.com/r/matthuisman/kodi-headless

docker run -d \
--name=kodi-headless \
--restart unless-stopped \
-v <path to data>:/config/.kodi \
-e PUID=<uid> \
-e PGID=<gid> \
-e TZ=<timezone> \
-p 8080:8080 \
-p 9090:9090 \
-p 9777:9777/udp \
matthuisman/kodi-headless:<tag>

Parameters

For simplicity, if changing ports - keep the external ports and internal ports the same.
Also remember to update / override the default advancedsettings.xml with the new ports.

• -p 8080:8080 - webui port (change advancedsettings.xml "webserverport" to match port)
• -p 9090:9090 - websockets port (change advancedsettings.xml "tcpport" to match port)
• -p 9777:9777/udp - esall interface port (change advancedsettings.xml "esport" to match port)
• -v /config/.kodi - path for kodi configuration files
• -e PUID for UserID - see below for explanation
• -e PGID for GroupID - see below for explanation
• -e TZ to set the timezone eg. Europe/London, etc.

There is also an example docker-compose.yml file which will setup a SQL db and set Kodi up to use it.

• Leia
• Matrix
• Nexus
• Omega

• x86_64 / amd64
• armv7
• armv8 / arm64

Docker will automatically pull the correct version for your platform

Any add-ons found in your config addons directory will automatically be enabled when Kodi starts.
Simply copy add-ons to the add-ons directory and then restart the docker container.

You can also install add-ons (and all their dependencies) from enabled repositories using the below command

docker exec kodi-headless install_addon "<addon_id>" "<addon_id>" "<addon_id>"

eg. docker exec kodi-headless install_addon "metadata.tvshows.thetvdb.com.v4.python" "another.addon.id"

• Leia - Python 2.7.17
• Matrix - Python 3.6.5
• Nexus - Python 3.10.4
• Omega - Python 3.10.4

Sometimes when using data volumes (-v flags) permissions issues can arise between the host OS and the container. We avoid this issue by allowing you to specify the user PUID and group PGID. Ensure the data volume directory on the host is owned by the same user you specify and it will "just work" ™.

In this instance PUID=1001 and PGID=1001. To find yours use id user as below:

  $ id <dockeruser>
    uid=1001(dockeruser) gid=1001(dockergroup) groups=1001(dockergroup)

SQL settings are entered by editing the file advancedsettings.xml which is found in the userdata folder of your /config/.kodi mapping. Many other settings are within this file as well.

If you intend to use this kodi instance to perform library tasks other than merely updating, eg. library cleaning etc, it is important to copy over the sources.xml from the host machine that you performed the initial library scan on to the userdata folder of this instance, otherwise database loss can and most likely will occur.

• Shell access whilst the container is running: docker exec -it kodi-headless /bin/bash
• To monitor the logs of the container in realtime: docker logs -f kodi-headless

The below works if your media is stored on the same machine as this docker container and you're using smb:// to share that media on the network.

First, mount your host media directory somewhere inside the container so Kodi can see it.
eg. --mount type=bind,source=/sharedfolders/pool,target=/media

Now, the below magic is done in Kodi's advancedsettings.xml

<pathsubstitution>
  <substitute>
    <from>smb://192.168.20.3/sharedfolders/pool/</from>
    <to>/media/</to>
  </substitute>
</pathsubstitution>

That's it. Now instead of always needing to scan over smb://, it will replace that with /media and scan much quicker. When it does find new items, they are correctly stored in the SQL using their smb:// path

The container includes a self-signed server.pem and server.key that expire in 2034.
Simply uncomment / add <webserverssl>true</webserverssl> to /config/userdata/advancedsettings.xml under <services>
Restart the container and you should now be able to access the webserver using https://

You can also generate your own server key pair with something like below

openssl genrsa 1024 > server.key
openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -sha1 -days 3650 -key server.key > server.pem

Copy the generated server.key and server.pem into your /config/userdata mount.

Restart the container and you should now be able to access the webserver using https://

If you receive errors like unable to iopause, what(): Operation not permitted,/usr/lib/kodi/kodi-x11 not found then see: https://github.com/sdr-enthusiasts/Buster-Docker-Fixes#the-situation

• linuxserver (original headless container)

• 06.04.24: Bump Omega to 21.0
• 19.03.24: Bump Omega to 21.0rc2
• 07.03.24: Bump Omega to 21.0rc1
• 03.03.24: Bump Nexus to 20.5
• 15.02.24: Bump Omega to 21.0b3
• 13.02.24: Bump Nexus to 20.4
• 10.01.24: Bump Nexus to 20.3
• 10.12.23: Bump Omega to 21.0b2
• 01.11.23: Bump Omega to 21.0b1
• 30.06.23: Bump Nexus to 20.2
• 12.03.23: Bump Nexus to 20.1
• 16.01.23: Bump Nexus to 20.0
• 25.12.22: Bump Matrix to 19.5
• 21.12.22: Bump Nexus to 20.0rc2
• 11.12.22: Bump Nexus to 20.0rc1
• 24.11.22: Bump Nexus to 20.0b1
• 10.03.22: Bump Matrix to 19.4
• 29.10.21: Bump Matrix to 19.3
• 10.10.21: Bump Matrix to 19.2