Kodi media center released one more update for the 18.x “Leia” a day ago, with a quick workaround to the third-party HTTP2 and SSL changes that impacted internet access from Kodi by scrapers, streaming addons, etc.

Okay, one more roll of the “Leia” die, although this one is really driven by circumstances beyond our control. Technical changes by Cloudflare caused significant issues with HTTP access to any site using them – metadata sources, for example – and we need to put in a quick workaround before everyone gets too upset; while 19.x “Matrix” is close, it’s not close enough to leave these issues unaddressed. So, as we’re building that new code, we thought that we might as well fix a couple of other regressions while we’re here.

Changes in Kodi 18.9 also include:

• Fix memory leaks in TexturePacker
• Fix event server unable to send raw key strikes
• Fix issues around directory navigation and incorrectly-set start directories
• Fix MediaCodec OES/EGL rendering

How to Install Kodi 18.9 in Ubuntu:

Kodi Team PPA has made the new release packages for all current Ubuntu releases and derivatives.

1. Open terminal either from application menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then either upgrading Kodi from an existing version via Software Updater:

or refresh system package cache and install Kodi 18.9 via commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install kodi

Uninstall:

To remove the Kodi PPA repository, simply open Software & Updates -> Other Software.

To remove Kodi, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove kodi kodi-data kodi-bin