Flatpak Kodi guide for Linux

[cg0]

This refers to Kodi Matrix, Kodi Nexus works good enough.

This is a small guide to the Flatpak version of Kodi, which some still might prefer than the one in Linux repos since it doesn't crash. At first it was crashing because of Kodi numpy issues, we managed to persuade Kodi devs to publish our fixes.
Now it seems most issues appear in 3rd party addons and those may not be that easy to be found and fixed. Modern distros use python v3.10 or higher and Kodi needs python v3.8 and that seems to cause freezes & crashes.
Flatpak Kodi seems to be built to avoid crashing.

Install flatpak from your Linux repos.
Open a terminal and type this to install Flatpak Kodi -the page is here: https://flathub.org/apps/details/tv.kodi.Kodi
flatpak install flathub tv.kodi.Kodi

To update Flatpak Kodi run this on a terminal:
flatpak update tv.kodi.Kodi

The easy way to add Flatpak Kodi executable on a panel etc, is to use:
flatpak run tv.kodi.Kodi
or
/var/lib/flatpak/exports/bin/tv.kodi.Kodi

On first start Flatpak Kodi will ask to enable all Kodi binary addons -that usually are in your Linux repos.
I only enable PVR IPTV Simple Client, Inputstream Adaptive, Inputstream FFMpegdirect, Inputstream RTMP, Screensaver Matrixtrails, VFS Libarchive, Waveform, for our builds compatibility.

The folder where your build will reside is:
~/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/

Flatpak Kodi has limitations, so, to be able to link your stored movie and music library folders, an easy way is for them to be physically inside this folder -one folder above your build:
~/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/

Then you can easily navigate to them going: Home folder > .var > app > tv.kodi.Kodi

If Flatpak Kodi upgrades to a newer version, but you prefer the one you used:
Run:
flatpak remote-info --log flathub tv.kodi.Kodi
Select the commit for the version you need, then update it using flatpak update.
Example, this is how you downgrade to Flatpak Kodi v19.5:
sudo flatpak update --commit=e15d861c08f40a370b16efe0a999b59f85727032077f6c4bdc7102336387154d tv.kodi.Kodi

For Arch Linux, Kodi v19.4 works best -Kodi v19.5 has glitches:
sudo flatpak update --commit=43be1f5599ab704cd79e6581b51040d5563e3f0025c2114e7e3751e2813b010e tv.kodi.Kodi