Dockerized Kodi based on Alpine image.

This is not a headless setup, Kodi runs in full screen mode using GBM Windowing with HDR support (assuming your monitor is capable) and video hardware acceleration.

Installation

sudo docker build --tag kodi `awk -F : '/^(audio|render|video):/ {printf "%s%s%s%s", " --build-arg KODI_", toupper($1), "=", $3}' /etc/group` .

By default, this uses the Alpine latest image, you can override the image with --build-arg ALPINE_TAG=<tag>.

By default, kodi runs as user kodi with uid 1000, you can override the defaults with

• uid: --build-arg KODI_UID=1042
• gid: --build-arg KODI_UID=1042

Usage

sudo docker run --mount type=bind,src=/path/to/your/media,dst=/media \
  -p 8080:8080 -p 9090:9090 -p 9777:9777/udp \
  --device /dev/dri --device /dev/snd \
  kodi

Notes

• If you want the kodi state to be accessible outside of docker (and to be persisted when you upgrade), create a directory with the correct permissions and add the following argument: --mount type=bind,src=/path/to/created/directory,dst=/var/lib/kodi/.kodi
• Don't forget to add your media, for example --mount type=bind,src=/path/to/media,dst=/media. Note that the provided image does not support access over NFS or Samba within the container.
• Kodi needs to be controlled via remote, the web server is enabled by default without requiring any password. Once it is working, set a password in Settings → Services → Control → Web server.
• To check what HDR types are detected, see Settings → System information → Video.
• I cannot test NVIDIA support and some packages are probably missing, send a PR to fix.

Troubleshooting

If Kodi is "Unable to create GUI", follow these steps:

Get things working with extended privileges

The following should work:

• run with --privileged to allow access to all devices
• run as root to avoid any issues with permissions

sudo docker run -p 8080:8080 -p 9090:9090 -p 9777:9777/udp --user root --privileged --rm -ti kodi-x11

If the above does not work, then something's off with the image itself and you need to dive in and tweak the Dockerfile.

Drop extended privileges

Once you have a working image, it's time to look at dropping unnecessary privileges.

First, while the container is running with --privileged, note the devices in use by running the following command on the host: sudo lsof -p `pgrep kodi-xbm` | grep /dev/

Second, replace the --privileged flag with --cap-add ALL, and make the necessary devices available within the container with --device. Keep running the docker command until you find the right combination.

Once things look good, remove the --cap-add ALL flag and see if things still work. If yes, great, you're done, otherwise work through the list of capabilities until you find the necessary one(s).

Switch to a regular user

Once you have a working image with limited privileges, try again without --user root.