Kodi “Leia” 18.2 was released a day ago with numerous bug-fixes and performance improvements. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and higher.

Kodi 18.2 is a bug fix release with no real new functionality. Release highlights include:

• Fix performance and dependency regressions in GLES rendering path.
• Fixes to the AML platform
• VAAPI on Intel improvements.
• Fixes and improvements across all aspects of PVR
• Music experience improvements.
• Huge number of improvements for the Android platform

How to Install Kodi 18.2 in Ubuntu:

The Kodi stable PPA has made the new release packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and their derivatives.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or from application menu. When it opens, paste below command and hit run:

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

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

2. Then refresh system package cache and install Kodi 18.2 via command:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install kodi

For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, you can skip the apt update command.

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

Kodi media center, formerly known as XBMC, reached the 17.4 release a few days ago with a bunch of bug-fixes. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and their derivatives.

Changes in Kodi 17.4 include:

• Potentially fix crashing on Windows due to an issue in Python
• Potentially fix crashing on Windows when enabling zeroconf
• Fix sporadic crash on Windows when installing or updating add-ons
• Fix issue for users with reverse proxies attempting to forward websockets.
• Fix possible issue if Linux distro uses system ffmpeg and cause black screen with 10-bit H.265
• Properly throttle scraping music information online to prevent overloading the provider
• Fix native keyboard on iOS 11
• Fix potential crash on Android O loading App icons
• Fix non showing Kodi banner on Android O
• Fix potential crash on Android with certain keymaps
• Fix wrong detection of VP6 and VP8 videocodec on Android
• Update FFmpeg to 3.1.9
• Set hard requirement to use FFmpeg 3.1.x only
• Fix for Hangup when viewing recording and pressing next/previous
• Fix merged scraped album type and label correctly with that derived from tags from music files
• Fix possible crash on Linux when using ALSA
• Save skin settings immediatly after they have changed instead of only on shutdown

How to Install Kodi 17.4 in Ubuntu:

Kodi has an official PPA that contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 17.04.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching it from app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

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

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it asks and hit Enter.

2. For those who have previous release installed, upgrade the media center via Software Updater:

or run commands to check updates and install kodi:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install kodi

Once installed, log out and log in back with Kodi session, or launch Kodi from Unity Dash, Gnome app launcher, or other app launcher.

Uninstall:

Run command to purge the PPA which also downgrade Kodi to its stock version in your Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:team-xbmc/ppa

To remove kodi, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove kodi

Kodi 17.1, the first bug-fix release for the v17 “Krypton”, has been released and made into PPA for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 16.10, and Linux Mint 17 & 18.

According to the changelog, Kodi 17.1 brings a huge list of fixes and here are some of them:

• Update Estuary and Estouchy with some bugfixes and improvements
• Fix EDL skipping
• Fix slow song smartplaylist
• Several PVR fixes
• Update Chorus webinterface
• Fix addons not being marked broken when they are updated with broken flag
• Add limiter on random songs which should prevent large memory usage on big libraries
• Improve keyboard mapping during button mapping
• Improve analog stick handling
• Improve plugin performance when building the content list
• Include RTMP inputstream add-on for Windows

Although the Kodi website does not announced the v17.1 release at the moment, you can now install or upgrade to Kodi 17.1 via following steps:

1. Open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T or searching for “Terminal” from Unity Dash / Start Menu. When it opens, run command to add Kodi PPA:

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

Type in your password (no visual feedback due to security reason) and hit Enter.

2. Then upgrade Kodi Media Center from a previous release via Software Updater:

Or run the commands below one by one to install or upgrade Kodi:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install kodi

Once installed, you can either launch Kodi from app launcher or select log in Kodi session at login screen.

Kodi, formerly known as XBMC, finally reached the new stable 17.0 release. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu via PPA.

Kodi 17.0, code-name “Krypton”, brings updated default UI, better organisation of settings, and many under-the-hood changes on Video Player, Music Library, PVR, audio on Android, and thousands of small bug-fixes and improvements to stability.

Kodi 17.0 features:

• New default skins “Estuary” for TV, and “Estouchy” for touchscreen devices.
• New default web interface
• New inputstream add-ons with more protocols support.
• hardware-accelerated DVD playback
• Numerous improvements to Live TV and PVR functionality
• Android implementation, and a wide variety of other changes.

How to Install Kodi 17 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint:

The Kodi Team announced that the official PPA will be updated soon with the new packages, available for Ubuntu 16.10, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04, and Linux Mint 17 & 18.

At that time, you can follow the step below to install Kodi 17:

1. Open terminal from app launcher or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut key, when it opens, run command:

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

Type in your password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter.

2. Then you can upgrade Kodi Media Center from an existing version, by launching Software Updater:

Or install it via following commands in terminal:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install kodi

Once installed, you can either launch Kodi from app launcher or log with Kodi session when you’re in login screen.

Uninstall:

To uninstall Kodi 17 and restore to the stock version in your Ubuntu repository, purge the PPA via ppa-purge tool via command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:team-xbmc/ppa