If your favorite addon has stopped working on Kodi, it's probably because you have too new a version of Python.

It's been a long time since Kodi it's giving us Linux users more headaches than joy. Since he got on Matrix, there are addons that have stopped working. Some they are installed, but their content does not show anything. In others, it simply causes a crash. What is happening? The problem is not with the player, but with the plugin developers and the programming language they use.

There are some addons that stopped working due to a problem in a version of Python that was between 3.10.0 and 3.10.4, and this problem was corrected in v3.10.5. That problem is already fixed, but other addons don't work because they are prepared for older versions of the programming language. And because fails only on linux? Well, I'm not sure if it's failing on macOS, but on Linux it's failing because Python is installed alongside the OS, and it's not built into Kodi like it is on Windows and Android.

Kodi for Windows and Android use their own version of Python

Kodi for Windows and Android has its own version of Python, and it changes depending on the version of Kodi being used. If it stops working it's because addon developers "cloak" their code (close it down) to prevent others from copying them, and it's the cloaking software that makes code compatible with only one version of Python. Therefore, if an addon is developed for Python 3.8 and on our Linux it goes for Linux 3.10.x, Kodi does not "understand" the camouflaged code and stops working. This shouldn't happen and it doesn't seem to happen without the camouflage, but it's understandable that developers prefer to have their software "closed".

And what can we do? Well, things don't look too good. If it has happened once, it will surely happen again in the future, at least if the developers do not take care of us Linux users a little, and we already know that this is not usually the case. These developers "camouflage" and upload only versions compatible with Android and Windows, and the latest version that is supported is Python 3.8. Therefore, one solution is to make Kodi use that version of Python, which is possible on Ubuntu-based operating systems.

To use these addons, you would have to open a terminal and type the following:

sudo apt install software-properties-common sudo apt update -y && sudo apt upgrade -y sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa sudo apt update -y && sudo apt upgrade -y sudo apt install python3.8* sudo apt install patchelf sudo patchelf --replace-needed libpython3.10.so.1.0 libpython3.8.so.1.0 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/kodi/kodi.bin

The above will install Python 3.8 BESIDE the version of Python we already have, and it will patch Kodi to use v3.8 and not 3.10.x which would not be compatible with some addons.

It's not the most elegant...

… and each one must weigh whether it is worth applying this solution or not. I can confirm that works on Ubuntu 22.04, but not in Manjaro, since they upgraded to 3.10 a long time ago and the 3.8 version of the AUR fails to compile. It has also been confirmed to work on Linux Mint 21, and on all other distributions it will depend on whether, 1, Python 3.8 can be installed; and 2, patchself can be installed.

On the other hand, you have to take into account what to do this could break compatibility with other addons, but it is not most likely. As we've mentioned, developers are mostly focused on what's for Android and Windows, so using one of the versions of Python that Kodi uses on those operating systems shouldn't cause any problems. Still, there we leave the warning.

Another option, if we have space on the hard drive and a computer with enough resources, is to do the same thing, but in an Ubuntu virtual machine. Kodi does run on Linux virtual machines without any major issues, so it's a possibility. It's also not the most elegant, but it still works.

Source: telegraph.