Starting Kodi automatically on Raspbian Jessie and Stretch

README.txt

So you were able to install Kodi via "sudo apt-get install kodi" but have no idea how to force it to autostart on boot?

You have tried all those googled solutions such as adding kodi-standalone to .bashrc, creating init.d script but nothing worked?

This is the right place to get the answer.

For some reason, the current version of Kodi doesnt provide 2 important files:
/etc/init.d/kodi
/etc/default/kodi

They are required to start kodi on boot. Also, for some unknown reason, I haven't found a single place in the whole internet, where those files would be available.

To fix the problem you need to create /etc/init.d/kodi first:
$ sudo touch /etc/init.d/kodi
The content for this file is provided in etc_init.d_kodi file attached to this gist. Use your favourite editor to paste the code into the file.

The second file to create is /etc/default/kodi. 
$ sudo touch /etc/default/kodi
Use the content from etc_default_kodi file attached to this gist:

We are almost done. The last thing is to is to make /etc/default/kodi executable:
$ sudo chmod a+x /etc/init.d/kodi

and add the init.d script to the startup scripts:
sudo update-rc.d kodi defaults
and thats it :)

etc_default_kodi

# Set this to 1 to enable startup
ENABLED=1

# The user to run Kodi as
USER=pi

# Adjust niceness of Kodi (decrease for higher priority)
NICE=-5

etc_init.d_kodi

#! /bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          kodi
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: XBMC media centre
# Description:       Starts the XBMC media centre in standalone mode
### END INIT INFO

# Author: Michael Gorven <[email protected]>

# PATH should only include /usr/* if it runs after the mountnfs.sh script
PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
DESC="media centre"
NAME=kodi
STARTAS=/usr/bin/kodi-standalone
DAEMON=/bin/sh
DAEMON_ARGS=""
PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
SCRIPTNAME=/etc/init.d/$NAME
GEOMETRY=/var/run/kodi.fbset

# Defaults
ENABLED=0
USER=kodi
NICE=0

# Exit if the package is not installed
[ -x "$STARTAS" ] || exit 0

# Read configuration variable file if it is present
[ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME

# Backwards compatibility with previous package name
[ -r /etc/default/xbmc ] && . /etc/default/xbmc

# Exit if service is not enabled
[ "$ENABLED" = "1" ] || exit 0

# Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables
. /lib/init/vars.sh

# Define LSB log_* functions.
# Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.2-14) to ensure that this file is present
# and status_of_proc is working.
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

#
# Function that starts the daemon/service
#
do_start()
{
        fbset --show | grep geometry | cut -d' ' -f 6- > $GEOMETRY
        # Return
        #   0 if daemon has been started
        #   1 if daemon was already running
        #   2 if daemon could not be started
        start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --user $USER --exec $DAEMON --startas $STARTAS --test > /dev/null \
                || return 1
        start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --nicelevel $NICE --chuid $USER --background --make-pidfile --exec $DAEMON --startas $STARTAS -- \
                $DAEMON_ARGS \
                || return 2
        # Add code here, if necessary, that waits for the process to be ready
        # to handle requests from services started subsequently which depend
        # on this one.  As a last resort, sleep for some time.
        sleep 10
        start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --user $USER --exec $DAEMON --startas $STARTAS --test > /dev/null \
                || return 2
}

#
# Function that stops the daemon/service
#
do_stop()
{
        # Return
        #   0 if daemon has been stopped
        #   1 if daemon was already stopped
        #   2 if daemon could not be stopped
        #   other if a failure occurred
        start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 --pidfile $PIDFILE --user $USER --exec $DAEMON --startas $STARTAS

        # Kodi doesn't actually handle signals, so we have to send an RPC request to ask it to exit
        if [ -x /usr/bin/wget ]; then
                wget --post-data '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "Application.Quit", "params": [], "id": 0}' --header 'Content-Type: application/json' -O /dev/null --quiet http://localhost:8080/jsonrpc
        fi
        # Wait for children to finish too if this is a daemon that forks
        # and if the daemon is only ever run from this initscript.
        # If the above conditions are not satisfied then add some other code
        # that waits for the process to drop all resources that could be
        # needed by services started subsequently.  A last resort is to
        # sleep for some time.
        start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=0/30/KILL/5 --user $USER --name $NAME.bin
        RETVAL="$?"
        [ "$RETVAL" = 2 ] && return 2

        # Many daemons don't delete their pidfiles when they exit.
        rm -f $PIDFILE

        # Try to fix the display
        VT="$(fgconsole)"
        if [ "$VT" ]; then
                chvt 7
                chvt "$VT"
        fi

        if [ -e $GEOMETRY ]; then
                fbset --geometry $(cat $GEOMETRY)
        fi

        return "$RETVAL"
}

case "$1" in
  start)
        [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME"
        do_start
        case "$?" in
                0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
                2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
        esac
        ;;
  stop)
        [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"
        do_stop
        case "$?" in
                0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
                2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
        esac
        ;;
  status)
        status_of_proc "$DAEMON" "$NAME" && exit 0 || exit $?
        ;;
  restart|force-reload)
        #
        # If the "reload" option is implemented then remove the
        # 'force-reload' alias
        #
        log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME"
        do_stop
        case "$?" in
          0|1)
                do_start
                case "$?" in
                        0) log_end_msg 0 ;;
                        1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running
                        *) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start
                esac
                ;;
          *)
                # Failed to stop
                log_end_msg 1
                ;;
        esac
        ;;
  *)
        echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|status|restart|force-reload}" >&2
        exit 3
        ;;
esac

:

Hi,
As far as I can understand, Debian Jessie and Debian Stretch (and the derivated Raspbian ones) use the new init system systemd, not the old one sysvInit. So the use of the start/stop script /etc/init.d/kodi and relative /etc/default/kodi configuration file, should be discouraged.
We should instead create a systemd unit file. I ended with this functional solution, running on 2017-11-29-raspbian-stretch-lite. I did not install the xerver.xorg system, the kodi-standalone program is run by the kodi user, which I created.
This is the /etc/systemd/system/kodi.service unit file:

[Unit]
Description = Kodi Media Center

# if you don't need the MySQL DB backend, this should be sufficient
After = systemd-user-sessions.service network.target sound.target

# if you need the MySQL DB backend, use this block instead of the previous
# After = systemd-user-sessions.service network.target sound.target mysql.service
# Wants = mysql.service

[Service]
User = kodi
Group = kodi
Type = simple
ExecStart = /usr/bin/kodi-standalone
Restart = always
RestartSec = 15

[Install]
WantedBy = multi-user.target

To install, enable and run the service:

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable kodi.service
systemctl start kodi.service

The kodi user was created witht the following commands:

adduser --disabled-password --gecos "User to run Kodi Media Center" kodi
adduser kodi audio
adduser kodi video
adduser kodi plugdev
adduser kodi input

Thank you Riggacciorg, less than 1 min to make it work :)

A partially unrelated note: remember to add the "start_x=1" option in /boot/config.txt, so that the Raspberry Pi will load the /boot/start_x.elf additional firmware. That firmware will help in decoding videos using the GPU, e.g. the VP8 encoded webm files.

Thanks also @RigacciOrg - the move over to systemd explains the missing files. Your approach worked perfectly for my Pi Zero running Raspbian Stretch (full version, not minimal) and Kodi 17.5.

While Cyberek's (and corrections by derikjoubert) will work on Raspbian Stretch and the latest KODI it is certainly MUCH better to use the method outlined by RigacciOrg. Starts up very well on my Pi Zero / Raspbian Stretch with IQAudio DAC+. I use it for music playback - no issues so far.

@RigacciOrg 's method worked great for me! As a user who has little to no experience, any tips on getting me out of the 15 second restart loop? I'd like to have it boot on startup, but also have the option to close Kodi and do other stuff or at least have more than 15 seconds to do so. Is that possible? Cheers!

@johnjoumaa simply delete (or change) these two lines in /etc/systemd/system/kodi.service

Restart = always
RestartSec = 15

Then reboot. Once you exit out of kodi you will have access to terminal

I just tried @RigacciOrg 's method and I could not get it to work. I received no errors but when I reboot it does not go into Kodi. I'm a noob so I'm sure there is something I'm missing.

Ok... I finally figured it out and am able to autostart into kodi on RPi 3 B running raspbian. However, like @johnjoumaa I would like to exit out and go back to the desktop. So I did what @erikfromdk suggested and took out the Restart lines. And that works however the desktop GUI does not reload properly. Any suggestions?

As recomment from https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=192499

Option 2:
If you want autostart Kodi at boot but also keep the Desktop Environment on the background, just edit the file ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart and add a line in the end with:
@kodi
This option is a bit more resource intensive because the DE is loaded on the background.

When I enter the systemctl commands and then enter my root password for the raspi, I get this error:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ systemctl daemon-reload
==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.systemd1.reload-daemon ===
Authentication is required to reload the systemd state.
Authenticating as: root
Password: Failed to reload daemon: Method call timed out
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ polkit-agent-helper-1: pam_authenticate failed: Authentication failure

What am I doing wrong?

When I enter the systemctl commands and then enter my root password for the raspi, I get this error:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ systemctl daemon-reload
==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.systemd1.reload-daemon ===
Authentication is required to reload the systemd state.
Authenticating as: root
Password: Failed to reload daemon: Method call timed out
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ polkit-agent-helper-1: pam_authenticate failed: Authentication failure

What am I doing wrong?

Are you entering this commands over ssh? I ran into this "error" while doing another project. As far as I understand, Raspbian has problems on handling systemctl commands for other users than pi and root. Didn't found a solution till today...

When I enter the systemctl commands and then enter my root password for the raspi, I get this error:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ systemctl daemon-reload
==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.systemd1.reload-daemon ===
Authentication is required to reload the systemd state.
Authenticating as: root
Password: Failed to reload daemon: Method call timed out
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ polkit-agent-helper-1: pam_authenticate failed: Authentication failure

What am I doing wrong?

You need to add 'sudo' at the start of your command, pi is a sudo enabled user so you need to use every single time you're doing something related with services

Works great !!
After putting these two files at the right place, I also did:

• chmod +x /etc/init.d/kodi
• in my case it is /etc/default (not /etc/defaults)
• one time: sudo /etc/init.d/kodi start (this will start kodi from the command line)
• one time: sudo systemctl enable kodi
  reboot the raspberry and it will start Kodi automatically :-)
  Great job !!

I followed @RigacciOrg's steps without errors but kodi still doesn't start at boot. I've no idea what I'm missing.
@tdietrich67 - what did you finally figure out to get it working?

Thank you @RigacciOrg!! Followed exactly those steps, executed commands with sudo, and it worked immediately :)
Note: before I did this I cleaned up what was done in the original explanation

Everyone here needs to understand the difference between systemd, and init.d before they do any of this.

Thank you all for the comments, I have corrected the mistakes.
After updating to Raspbian Buster and Pi4 I will also check if this solution still works. For now Raspbian Buster has older version of Kodi, which doesn't even run in standalone version. So if you don't have a proper Raspbian backup, don't even try to upgrade if having working Kodi is one of your top priorities.

in raspberry pi 4 put this command :

sudo nano ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart

add the line:

@kodi

done !

you need “sudo nano ....״

…

Sent from my iPhone

On 3 Jan 2020, at 1:27, adamtomajko ***@***.***> wrote:  My question could make you laugh. But I don't have knowledge about any of this. But when I write out provided script with nano editor ( nano /etc/init.d/kodi ) system rejected it become of permission. How am I supposed to do this. Thank you for helping me out. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.

Thank you! I needed the /etc/init.d/kodi script. Much appreciated.

Yes its better because in will run only the kodi without desktop

…

Sent from my iPhone

On 20 Feb 2020, at 21:12, danieljoy ***@***.***> wrote:  Thank you! I needed the /etc/init.d/kodi script. Much appreciated. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.