HOW-TO:Install Kodi for Linux

If you are having problems, there is an XBMC for Linux specific FAQ specially for Questions about XBMC for Linux in this wiki.

Installation from official distribution packages

A number of distributions now provide packages of XBMC. Since installation via distribution packages is simple (usually one or two commands) and the easiest way to get started, this section includes the minimum information on doing that. Distributions are listed in alphabetical order. Following the instructions provided should result in you having a working stand-alone XBMC installation.

Arch

As stable xbmc releases are already available through the community repository, please make sure you have it enabled in your /etc/pacman.conf. After that it's as simple as using pacman to install xbmc and all of its dependencies:

pacman -Sy xbmc

Mandriva

As of January 2010, xbmc packages (based on the pvr-testing2 branch, with vdr support) are available for Mandriva 2009.1 and later in contrib/backports, and from 2010.1 xbmc will be available in contrib/release. For Mandriva 2010.0 and older, you can install xbmc by running:

urpmi --searchmedia Backports xbmc

From 2010.1, you will be able to install with:

urpmi xbmc

Of course, you can install from contrib/backports or from contrib/release using the GUI tool rpmdrake. Note that all these methods are most easily used if you have the full software sources enabled.

Installing from third-party distribution packages

While obviously using distribution-supplied packages is preferable (in terms of updates, continued support, easier distro upgrades etc.) to third-party packages, methods for installing from third-party packages repositories are still easier than installing from source.

openSUSE

xbmc is available in the Packman repository. To install, add the Packman repository (YaST (package manager) --> repositories --> repositories manager --> add --> community repositories), after which you can install by running:

sudo zypper in XBMC

More information is available on the HOW TO install XBMC on openSUSE Linux page.

Ubuntu

For Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Kaola), you can install from the team-xbmc PPA as follows:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xbmc
sudo apt-get update

For more details, see the HOW-TO install XBMC for Linux on Ubuntu, a Step-by-Step Guide page (The official XBMC site points to this page) or the minimal Ubuntu guide which is suitable for a HTPC style system without desktop use.

If you are interested in stable XBMC releases (releases that we certify as usable and/or testable), please use the stable PPAs. Once added in your repository list, you will be notified for any update we make. You will have the latest stable version this way.

Installation from source

If distribution packages are not available, or you need a newer version, or specific features enabled, then you will most likely need to compile from source. While compiling from source does not differ very much between distributions (except for installation of build dependencies), a few different guides are available in this wiki.

• HOW-TO compile XBMC for Linux from source code
• HOW-TO compile XBMC for Linux on Debian/Ubuntu - This is a tutorial on how to compile and install XBMC on Debian and Ubuntu.
• HOW-TO compile XBMC for Linux on Fedora Red Hat Enterprise Linux CentOS - This is a tutorial on how to install XBMC on Fedora 8/9/10, RHEL & CentOS 5.2.
• HOW-TO install XBMC for Linux on Arch Linux, a Step-by-Step Guide
• HOW-TO_GER Ubuntu 9.10 - Step by Step - XBMC PVR-TESTING2 with VDR (HDTV) & LIRC - Hierbei handelt es sich um eine deutsche Anleitung wie man XBMC (pvr-testing2) inkl. VDR und LIRC zum laufen bringt.