Minimal Kodi Installation

Instructions for installing and configuring a minimal Kodi media center machine, to fill the gap left after the XBMC/Kodi-buntu distributions were retired.

The Ubuntu-Desktop distribution is just too bloated for a "setup-once and forget about it" machine.

Install a Minimal Ubuntu 18 Dist.

The goal is to install only what's absolutely necessary for kodi operation.

Ubuntu MinimalCD was chosen initially as it allows us to specify packages or package groups manually during installation but it doesn't support EFI out of the box and requires an active internet connection during installation as the CD doesn't contain any.

Ubuntu Server seemed like the next logical choice. It has very minimal defaults, this should allow us to only add the packages we need.

1. Download ISO

Download the ISO that matches your architecture (ex 64-bit) from Ubuntu. I find the torrent option is usually the fastest.

Note: Chose the LTS version for longest lifetime.

2. Boot from ISO

Burn the ISO to a DVD or use a tool like UNetBootIn or Rufus to create a boot USB.

3. Go through the installation

Select Language Option(s)
Select Keyboard Layout
Select Install Ubuntu
Use DHCP assigned IP or configure your own IP
Proxy if you need it
Select Ubuntu Mirror Options
Filesystem setup

Use Use an entire disk unless you want to manually set it up
Profile Setup

Note: Something logical (kodi, media-pc, etc...) that doesn't conflic with existing hosts on LAN.

Entry Value

Your name kodi

Your server's name kodi

Pick a username kodi

Choose a password ***
Skip the Snaps unless you need one
Finished Reboot Now

Entry	Value
Your name	kodi
Your server's name	kodi
Pick a username	kodi
Choose a password	***

Ubuntu 18 OS Configuration

Some basic operating system configuration and fixup before installing kodi.

Fix sudo

If your hostname can't be resolved by DNS (or you have a duplicate hostname on the network), sudo will hang for up to a minute, this can get aggravating fast.

Fix it by adding the hostname to /etc/hosts

sudo sed -i "/^127.0.0.1/ s/$/ $(hostname)/" /etc/hosts

Remove cloud-init

Seems Ubuntu is assuming we're all in the cloud and introduced (jammed down our throat) a "a set of python scripts and utilities to make your cloud images be all they can be!"

How hard would it be to add this as an option during installation?

To remove this we'll need to

Remove all cloud-init datasources

echo 'datasource_list: [ None ]' | sudo -s tee /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/90_dpkg.cfg

Uninstall all it's packages
```
sudo apt-get purge cloud-init
```

Delete all it's configuration files

sudo rm -rf /etc/cloud/; sudo rm -rf /var/lib/cloud/

Remove open-iscsi

The iSCSI daemon will wait indefinitely and hang the boot process if it's not removed when cloud-init is removed
```
sudo apt remove open-iscsi
```

Update OS

Install the latest patches for the currently installed packages.

Update apt and initiate an upgrade

sudo bash -c 'apt update && apt upgrade -y'

Reboot
```
sudo reboot
```

Install xubuntu-core

The xbuntu-core is a lightweight desktop environment, provides us with the least amount of packages needed for a functioning X11 (graphical) environment to support kodi.

Enable Universe Repository
```
sudo add-apt-repository universe
```
Install xubuntu-core Note: The carat in the command below is needed, it specifies a tasksel task.
```
sudo apt install xubuntu-core^
```

Configure Time

Configure time synchronization with chrony and set the timezone - it might not seem like a big deal but it's good practice and will save you from a possible headache later.

Install chrony
```
sudo apt install chrony
```
Get a list of timezones
```
timedatectl list-timezones
```

Set your timezone (ex. Chicago)

sudo timedatectl set-timezone 'America/Chicago'

Create Users & Groups

We'll create separate users and a common group for all the services (kodi, sonarr, radarr, sabnzbd) to allow them to share access to the media store while still maintaining process separation.

Common Group

Create group
```
sudo groupadd media
```

Add kodi to the group

sudo usermod --append --groups media ${USER}

Users

SABnzbd+

sudo useradd                     \
 --comment  "SABnzbd+ Daemon"    \
 --shell    /usr/sbin/nologin    \
 --home-dir /var/opt/sabnzbdplus \
 --groups   media                \
 --system   --user-group         \
 sabnzbd

Sonarr

sudo useradd                  \
 --comment  "Sonarr Daemon"   \
 --shell    /usr/sbin/nologin \
 --home-dir /opt/Sonarr       \
 --groups   media             \
 --system   --user-group      \
 sonarr

Radarr

sudo useradd                  \
 --comment  "Radarr Daemon"   \
 --shell    /usr/sbin/nologin \
 --home-dir /opt/Ronarr       \
 --groups   media             \
 --system   --user-group      \
 radarr

Plex Media Server

sudo useradd                         \
 --comment  "Plex User"              \
 --shell    /usr/sbin/nologin        \
 --home-dir /var/lib/plexmediaserver \
 --groups   media                    \
 --system   --user-group             \
 plex

Clone mini-kodi Repo

The repository contains various config files and scripts that will be used throughout. We'll need to clone it to ensure we have the latest files available to us.

Clone the repo

cd $HOME; git clone https://github.com/OnceUponALoop/mini-kodi.git

Create a runtime copy of the configuration files

cp -r $HOME/mini-kodi/conf $HOME/mini-kodi/runconf

Replace user entries with desired users

Change the usernames below to match the desired usernames

Kodi

find $HOME/mini-kodi/runconf  -type f \
| xargs -I {} sed -i 's/KODI_USER/kodi/g; s/KODI_GROUP/kodi/g' {}

Common media group

find $HOME/mini-kodi/runconf  -type f \
| xargs -I {} sed -i 's/COMMON_GROUP/media/g' {}

SABnzbd+

find $HOME/mini-kodi/runconf  -type f \
| xargs -I {} sed -i 's/SABN_USER/sabnzbd/g; s/SABN_GROUP/sabnzbd/g' {}

Sonarr

find $HOME/mini-kodi/runconf  -type f \
| xargs -I {} sed -i 's/SONR_USER/sonarr/g; s/SONR_GROUP/sonarr/g' {}

Radarr

find $HOME/mini-kodi/runconf  -type f \
| xargs -I {} sed -i 's/RADR_USER/radarr/g; s/RADR_GROUP/radarr/g' {}

Plex Media Server

find $HOME/mini-kodi/runconf  -type f \
| xargs -I {} sed -i 's/PLEX_USER/plex/g; s/PLEX_GROUP/plex/g' {}

Install Kodi

Add Kodi PPA Repository

Set the right PPA depending on which release of Kodi you want. I recommend sticking with stable unless you have a good reason not to.
- Stable
```
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
```
- Nightly
```
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/unstable
```
Update apt and install kodi

Note we're also installing the inputstream addons, these are required by various plugins but require installation through apt.
```
sudo bash -c 'apt update && apt install kodi kodi-inputstream-adaptive kodi-inputstream-rtmp'
```

Configure lightdm to start kodi on bootup

Create file /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/kodi.conf

sudo cp $HOME/mini-kodi/runconf/lightdm-kodi.conf /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/kodi.conf

Test it by launching lightdm
```
sudo systemctl start lightdm
```
If it has already started, test it by killing lightdm, it should restart with Kodi
```
sudo killall lightdm
```

Configure Remote

I spent a bunch of time over the past 8 years massaging lirc into behaving correctly, it didn't help that my IR receiver of choice was always an OG xbox adapter.

I've finally given up and taken the easy route - I bought a newfangled flirc and will be using that with this configuration. I plan on maintaining config files and instructions for the various remotes i encounter, might be helpful to other people out there.

Install SABNzbd

Reference: SABnzbd Documentation

Enable Multiverse Repository
```
sudo add-apt-repository multiverse
```

Install sabnzbd repositories

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jcfp/nobetas
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jcfp/sab-addons

Install sabnzbd and dependencies

sudo apt update && sudo apt install sabnzbdplus software-properties-common python-sabyenc par2-tbb

Enable auto-startup
```
sudo systemctl enable sabnzbdplus
```

Replace the configuration file /etc/default/sabnzbdplus

sudo cp $HOME/runconf/systemd/sabnzbd-dafaults.init /etc/default/sabnzbdplus

Start it
```
sudo systemctl start sabnzbdplus
```

Install Sonarr

Reference: Mono & Sonarr documentation.

Install Mono Repositories

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 3FA7E0328081BFF6A14DA29AA6A19B38D3D831EF
echo "deb https://download.mono-project.com/repo/ubuntu stable-bionic main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable.list

Install Sonarr Repository

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 0xa236c58f409091a18aca53cbebff6b99d9b78493
echo "deb http://apt.sonarr.tv/ master main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sonarr.list

Install Sonarr

sudo apt update && sudo apt install nzbdrone

Fix Permissions The default radarr package file permissions need to be adjusted (Windows developers perhaps)
```
sudo find /opt/NzbDrone -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
sudo chown sonarr:sonarr -R /opt/NzbDrone
```
Create a systemd service for Sonarr

Note: The user and pathing in the service file might need to be adjusted to match your system/user info.
```
sudo cp $HOME/mini-kodi/runconf/systemd/sonarr.service /etc/systemd/system/
```

Enable and start it

sudo systemctl enable sonarr.service
sudo systemctl start  sonarr.service

Change the port

Sonarr defaults to port 8089 if available. change the Port directive in the configuration file /var/opt/sonarr/config.xml to adjust the port.

<Config>
  <LogLevel>Info</LogLevel>
  <Port>8082</Port>
  <UrlBase></UrlBase>
  <BindAddress>*</BindAddress>
  <SslPort>9898</SslPort>
  <EnableSsl>False</EnableSsl>
  <ApiKey>-------------------------</ApiKey>
  <AuthenticationMethod>None</AuthenticationMethod>
  <LaunchBrowser>False</LaunchBrowser>
</Config>

Restart the service to use the new port
```
sudo systemctl restart sonarr.service
```

Install Radarr

There's still no repo packages available for radarr so we'll have to install it manually. This isn't too bad especially since it auto-updates anyway.

Install dependencies

sudo apt install libmono-cil-dev curl mediainfo

Install Radarr

cd /opt
sudo wget $( curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/Radarr/Radarr/releases | grep linux.tar.gz | grep browser_download_url | head -1 | cut -d \" -f 4 )
sudo tar -xvzf Radarr.*.linux.tar.gz
sudo rm -f /opt/Radarr.*.linux.tar.gz

Fix Permissions The default radarr package file permissions need to be adjusted (Windows developers perhaps)
```
sudo find /opt/Radarr -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
sudo chown radarr:radarr -R /opt/radarr
```
Create a systemd service for Sonarr

Note: The user and pathing in the service file might need to be adjusted to match your system/user info.
```
sudo cp $HOME/mini-kodi/runconf/systemd/radarr.service /etc/systemd/system/
```

Enable and start it

sudo systemctl enable radarr.service
sudo systemctl start  radarr.service

Change the port

Radarr defaults to port 7878 if available. change the Port directive in the configuration file /var/opt/Radarr/config.xml to adjust the port.

<Config>
  <LogLevel>Info</LogLevel>
  <Port>8083</Port>
  <UrlBase></UrlBase>
  <BindAddress>*</BindAddress>
  <SslPort>9898</SslPort>
  <EnableSsl>False</EnableSsl>
  <ApiKey>--------------------------------</ApiKey>
  <AuthenticationMethod>None</AuthenticationMethod>
  <Branch>develop</Branch>
  <LaunchBrowser>False</LaunchBrowser>
</Config>

Restart the service to use the new port
```
sudo systemctl restart radarr.service
```

Install Plex Media Server

Trust Plex repository key

curl https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-keys/PlexSign.key | sudo apt-key add -

Add Plex repository

echo deb https://downloads.plex.tv/repo/deb public main | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/plexmediaserver.list

Install Plex Media Server
```
sudo bash -c 'apt update && apt install plexmediaserver'
```
Ignore the installer prompt to replace the apt repo file.

OS Customization

Audio Configuration

If you're using an NVidia card or an NVidia ION box (ex Zotac Zbox) you'll soon realize that there's no audio in Kodi.

This is due to the fact that NVidia presents the wrong default device for audio. Reference: NVidia HDMI Audio (Under-Enumeration of Logical Devices) & ArchiWiki

List all audio devices

kodi@kodi:~$ sudo aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
Home directory not accessible: Permission denied
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC888 Digital [ALC888 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Get a list of all the devices with their hw name

# sudo aplay -l | grep card | awk -F"card |device |:" '{print "hw:" $2 "," $4}'
hw:0,0
hw:0,1
hw:1,3
hw:1,7
hw:1,8
hw:1,9

Test each device to figure out which one is actually producing audio
```
sudo speaker-test -c 2 -r 48000 -D <HW-ID>
```

Once we determine which device is our audio device we can reconfigure pulseaudio to load it

sudo echo "load-module module-alsa-sink device=<HW-ID>" >> /etc/pulse/default.pa

The Zotac ZBOX ID40 uses hw:1,7

sudo echo "load-module module-alsa-sink device=hw:1,7" >> /etc/pulse/default.pa

Reboot to apply changes and test Restarting pulse and Kodi should be enough but I haven't tested that.

Enable Kodi Power Control

TODO make a file in project

By default Kodi lacks permissions to Suspend/Wake/Shutdown/Poweroff. Reference: Kodi Wiki
- Install dependencies, they should all already be installed but better safe than sorry!
```
sudo apt install policykit-1 upower acpi-support
```
- Create file /var/lib/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/kodi.pkla
```
sudo cp $HOME/mini-kodi/runconf/polkit-kodi.pkla /var/lib/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/kodi.pkla
```
- Restart polkit to apply the settings
```
sudo systemctl restart polkit
```

Enable USB automount

Configure it to use the USB label as the mount name.

Create file /etc/udev/rules.d/11-media-by-label-auto-mount.rules with the following content

# Start at sdb to avoid system hard drive
KERNEL!="sd[b-z][0-9]", GOTO="media_by_label_auto_mount_end"
 
# Import FS info
IMPORT{program}="/sbin/blkid -o udev -p %N"
 
# Get a label if present, otherwise specify one
ENV{ID_FS_LABEL}!="", ENV{dir_name}="%E{ID_FS_LABEL}"
ENV{ID_FS_LABEL}=="", ENV{dir_name}="usbhd-%k"
 
# Global mount options
ACTION=="add", ENV{mount_options}="realtime"
 
# Filesystem-specific mount options
ACTION=="add", ENV{ID_FS_TYPE}=="vfat|ntfs",
ENV{mount_options}="$env{mount_options},utf8,gid=100,umask=002"
 
# Mount the device
ACTION=="add", RUN+="/bin/mkdir -p /media/%E{dir_name}", RUN+="/bin/mount -o $env{mount_options} /dev/%k /media/%E{dir_name}"
 
# Clean up after removal
ACTION=="remove", ENV{dir_name}!="", RUN+="/bin/umount -l /media/%E{dir_name}", RUN+="/bin/rmdir /media/%E{dir_name}"
 
# Exit
LABEL="media_by_label_auto_mount_end"

Hide grub menu

We can hide the grub menu while still retaining the ability to use it by using the HIDDEN options
- Create a new file /etc/default/grub.d/99-kodi-splash.cfg
```
sudo cp $HOME/mini-kodi/runconf/grub-kodi-splash.cfg /etc/default/grub.d/99-kodi-splash.cfg
```
- Recreate it to apply settings
```
sudo update-grub
```
Install Kodi Plymouth Theme

Plymouth is a Fedora project that enables graphical diplay during bootup. We're going to change the default theme to a Kodi one to make bootup look nicer.
- Install dependencies
```
sudo apt install fakeroot
```
- Clone the git repo to a temp location
```
git clone https://github.com/solbero/plymouth-theme-kodi-animated-logo.git /tmp/plymouth-theme-kodi
```
- Navigate to repo and build the deb package
```
cd /tmp/plymouth-theme-kodi
./build.sh
```
- Install the package
```
sudo dpkg -i /tmp/plymouth-theme-kodi/plymouth-theme-kodi-animated-logo.deb
```
- Update grub
```
sudo update-grub
```
- Delete the source as we no longer need it
```
cd ~/; rm -rf /tmp/plymouth-theme-kodi
```
- Reboot to test
```
sudo reboot
```
Disable WiFi

If you're not using the wireless interface then you might want to disable it.

The best way to ensure it's completely disabled is to block loading of the wireless driver using.
- Find the driver used in your wireless card
```
sudo lshw -C network | grep -B 1 -A 12 'Wireless interface'
```
  Look for the driver= (ex driver=iwlwifi)
- Create the file /etc/modprobe.d/disable-wifi.conf
```
# Disable Wifi Driver
install iwlwifi /bin/true
```
  Reference: Blacklisting a module

Enable Auto-Update

Reference: Ubuntu AutomaticSecurityUpdates
Edit /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades
Enable "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-updates";
Add kodi PPA "LP-PPA-team-xbmc:${distro_codename}";
Add SabNzbd PPA "LP-PPA-jcfp-sab-addons:${distro_codename}";
Enable cleanup Unattended-Upgrade::Remove-Unused-Dependencies "true";
Enable Reboot Unattended-Upgrade::Automatic-Reboot "true";
Set Reboot time to 4am Unattended-Upgrade::Automatic-Reboot-Time "04:00";

Final result should look something like this

// Automatically upgrade packages from these (origin:archive) pairs
Unattended-Upgrade::Allowed-Origins {
        "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}";
        "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-security";
        // Extended Security Maintenance; doesn't necessarily exist for
        // every release and this system may not have it installed, but if
        // available, the policy for updates is such that unattended-upgrades
        // should also install from here by default.
        "${distro_id}ESM:${distro_codename}";
        "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-updates";
//      "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-proposed";
//      "${distro_id}:${distro_codename}-backports";
        "LP-PPA-team-xbmc:${distro_codename}";
        "LP-PPA-jcfp-sab-addons:${distro_codename}";
};

// List of packages to not update (regexp are supported)
Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist {
//      "vim";
//      "libc6";
//      "libc6-dev";
//      "libc6-i686";
};

// This option allows you to control if on a unclean dpkg exit
// unattended-upgrades will automatically run
//   dpkg --force-confold --configure -a
// The default is true, to ensure updates keep getting installed
//Unattended-Upgrade::AutoFixInterruptedDpkg "false";

// Split the upgrade into the smallest possible chunks so that
// they can be interrupted with SIGUSR1. This makes the upgrade
// a bit slower but it has the benefit that shutdown while a upgrade
// is running is possible (with a small delay)
//Unattended-Upgrade::MinimalSteps "true";

// Install all unattended-upgrades when the machine is shuting down
// instead of doing it in the background while the machine is running
// This will (obviously) make shutdown slower
//Unattended-Upgrade::InstallOnShutdown "true";

// Send email to this address for problems or packages upgrades
// If empty or unset then no email is sent, make sure that you
// have a working mail setup on your system. A package that provides
// 'mailx' must be installed. E.g. "user@example.com"
//Unattended-Upgrade::Mail "root";

// Set this value to "true" to get emails only on errors. Default
// is to always send a mail if Unattended-Upgrade::Mail is set
//Unattended-Upgrade::MailOnlyOnError "true";

// Do automatic removal of new unused dependencies after the upgrade
// (equivalent to apt-get autoremove)
Unattended-Upgrade::Remove-Unused-Dependencies "true";

// Automatically reboot *WITHOUT CONFIRMATION*
//  if the file /var/run/reboot-required is found after the upgrade
Unattended-Upgrade::Automatic-Reboot "true";

// If automatic reboot is enabled and needed, reboot at the specific
// time instead of immediately
//  Default: "now"
Unattended-Upgrade::Automatic-Reboot-Time "04:00";

// Use apt bandwidth limit feature, this example limits the download
// speed to 70kb/sec
//Acquire::http::Dl-Limit "70";

CiViC321/mini-kodi

Minimal Kodi Installation

Install a Minimal Ubuntu 18 Dist.

1. Download ISO

2. Boot from ISO

3. Go through the installation

Ubuntu 18 OS Configuration

Fix sudo

Remove cloud-init

Update OS

Install xubuntu-core

Configure Time

Create Users & Groups

Clone mini-kodi Repo

Install Kodi

Configure Remote

Install SABNzbd

Install Sonarr

Install Radarr

Install Plex Media Server

OS Customization