How to install Kodi 18.3 on Raspberry Pi 3 with Raspbian 10 Buster

Note – 2020-01-06 – The latest version of Kodi is now available in the standard Raspian 10 repository, so installing the standard way will get a working, up-to-date version, no need to add extra sources. To install just run:

sudo apt-get install kodi

Kept for historical purposes:

Since the release of Raspbian 10 Buster, I have really enjoyed using it on the Raspberry Pi 2 that I use as my network router. The main features I like are:

• Newer services and libraries, including:
  • Nginx
  • MariaDB
• Python 3.7
• Fish Shell version 3.0.x

However, the Pi 3 I have hooked up to my TV wasn’t able to be upgraded, because the version of Kodi media player included with buster is currently 17.6. Also, it doesn’t have proper acceleration for the Raspberry Pi hardware, and doesn’t launch properly without X11 window manager running. However, I discovered that the Pipplware team has been packaging an improved Kodi version. See more about Pipplware here: http://pipplware.pplware.pt/

I found this guide (https://linuxsuperuser.com/install-latest-version-kodi-raspbian-jessie/) on how to use the Pippleware repo on Raspbian Jessie, but it isn’t fully compatible with Buster, so here’s the instructions to use the guide on Buster:

Make a backup of your SD card, so that you can rollback if needed.

https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/17789160-backing-up-and-restoring-your-raspberry-pis-sd-card

Add the pipplware list to your APT sources list. Note the buster part. You can do this by running:

ADDED 2019-09-14 – As mentioned by Neil in the comments, before you add the pipplware repository you should uninstall any existing kodi packages, to prevent conflicts. Thanks Neil! You can do this by running:

sudo apt purge kodi kodi-data kodi-bin kodi-repository-kodi 

Now you can add the pipplware repository to your sources list:

sudo bash -c "echo 'deb http://pipplware.pplware.pt/pipplware/dists/buster/main/binary /' >/etc/apt/sources.list.d/pipplware.list"

Add the pipplware key to APT, so that software from their repository is trusted:

wget -O - http://pipplware.pplware.pt/pipplware/key.asc | sudo apt-key add -

Update the APT sources:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

You should now be able to install the 18.3 version of Kodi:

sudo apt-get install kodi