HOWTO: LGWebOSRemote on LibreELEC via Docker

[NamelessCoder]

Since LibreELEC is my go-to media player, but doesn't play too well with Python applications out of the box, I decided to write up this little HOWTO on running LGWebOSRemote on the very limited OS provided by LibreELEC.

The intention is to do things like use crontab for scheduling certain TV commands during LibreELEC boot and shutdown, and at some point write a Kodi plugin to do some magic with my LG TV.

This should of course also work on any other system than LibreELEC - but the Dockerfile contains some workarounds that were necessary to get things working for me, avoiding some limitations of LibreELEC.

Disclaimer: this is far from perfect as I'm not a genius with Docker. But, it gets the job done. If anyone has feedback, and in particular, feedback about somehow persisting the configuration files, I'd be more than happy to receive it!

I'm hoping this saves some time for someone else trying to wrestle LGWebOSRemote onto LibreELEC or other limited OS'es!

Here goes!

Pre-requisites

• Obviously, install the Docker Kodi add-on.
• Make sure your LibreELEC system has network connectivity.
• Find out how to use SSH to connect to the LibreELEC system.
• Connect via SSH, create a directory to hold the Dockerfile, then continue below.

Dockerfile

FROM python:3.12

ENV VIRTUAL_ENV=/opt/venv
RUN python3 -m venv $VIRTUAL_ENV
ENV PATH="$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin:$PATH"
RUN . /opt/venv/bin/activate && pip install git+https://github.com/klattimer/LGWebOSRemote
RUN mkdir -m 777 -p /opt/venvs/lgtv/config
RUN echo '{"mytv" : {"ip": "10.0.0.69", "client-key": "", "mac-address": "34:e6:e6:a5:c8:3c"}}' > /opt/venvs/lgtv/config/config.json
RUN useradd app
RUN chown app:app /opt/venvs/lgtv/config
RUN chown app:app /opt/venvs/lgtv/config/config.json

USER app

RUN . /opt/venv/bin/activate && exec lgtv auth --ssl 10.0.0.69 mytv
RUN . /opt/venv/bin/activate && exec lgtv setDefault mytv

CMD . /opt/venv/bin/activate && exec lgtv

You'll need to adapt the Dockerfile slightly to fit your system:

• Change the ip and mac-address settings in the JSON array that is written to config.json.
• Change the IP and TV name in the auth command.
• If you changed the TV name, also change it in the setDefault command right below.

Building it

docker build --network=host -t lgtv/remote .

• The --network=host part is vital!
• While building, your TV will prompt you to authenticate an app. Be ready to accept that dialog.
• Once built, the Docker image contains configuration to operate one TV.

Running it

# example with screenOn command
docker run -t --rm lgtv/remote lgtv --ssl screenOn

• The --rm is added to avoid leaving one dead container for every execution.
• The -t is optional but nice for continuous feedback.

The workarounds

1. LibreELEC won't allow network scan with SSDP to discover the TV, so you can't use lgtv scan - you have to use the IP manually.
2. Docker (or at least the base image used here) won't allow the configuration file to be automatically created - the build routine must create it.
3. Docker won't persist the configuration file changes so you can't store the client key - the auth step is done when building to make sure the built image contains the right configuration.
4. The base image has no home directory so the configuration file has to be written to /opt/venvs/lgtv/config/config.json.

[NamelessCoder]

@klattimer If you'd like this moved to the "Discussions" tab or submitted as PR to add a "HOWTO-LibreELEC.md" or other file just let me know and I'll take care of it.

[klattimer]

Make it an md file and add it to the project root.