Instructions for building XBMC for Raspbian

[mpthompson]

I'm just preparing .deb installation file of XBMC, if anyone would be interested to test it ?

Wow, this sounds great. I'm certain there will be a lot of interest in this and a lot of feedback on the specific configuration options you chose. Being able to install/deinstall XBMC as a .deb is about as good as it gets.

[Diaoul]

Was planning to do a .deb too but as I've no experience in this, it could've take me long hours to have it working. I'm glad you're at it.

[Diaoul]

1.) copy /boot/arm128_start.elf to /boot/start.elf
2.) set "disable_overscan=1"
3.) ask if you want to boot directly to XBMC (+ 5 sec timeout)

This seem too much specific to the RPi and also I'm not sure one would want to have his settings modified. The package would be broken if the user changes the start.elf or disable_overscan, without any possibility to fix it (except a dpkg-reconfigure).
Also, XBMC is not a daemon that runs in the background so I don't think that an option to "boot directly to XBMC" is wise here.
IMO the best would be to have a .deb with XBMC and a CLI "rpi-xbmc" with the ability to do everything else (setup, start on boot, self update, check for a newer .deb, etc.)
What do you think?

[payneardo]

Hi, I would certainly would be willing to test it sounds great sorry my linux skills are limited but I am learning and getting to be an "expert googler" to learn even more

Will this build have nfs support as my nas has this turned on and wondering if this is causing some of my issues??

Cheers

Payneardo

PS I did do further testing last night on another install on a SD card and it still paused/glitched also tested one of the openelec builds and it did the same there but not as bad. Will change power supply as that can often be a cause of some of these problems and keep playing

Hi payneardo,

I just read your post. Sorry I didn't play 720p video yet, and have to go to sleep now.

I'm just preparing .deb installation file of XBMC, if anyone would be interested to test it ?

Tomorrow after work I have to write postrm script (for uninstalling my settings am doing in postins) and finish postins (almost finished):
it will do:

1.) copy /boot/arm128_start.elf to /boot/start.elf
2.) set "disable_overscan=1"
3.) ask if you want to boot directly to XBMC (+ 5 sec timeout)
4.) fix Shutdown, Custom shutdown timer and Reboot problem or XBMC
5.) fix start of XBMC
6.) auto mount USB device
7.) ask if you want to reboot

I just have to write part for 6.) - auto mount connected USB device (one, or more ?) I didn't think all options here...

All operation done on system will be reversible, I mean, it will be added to your system and when removing packet they will be also removed!

Of course I have to test it on clean "2012-07-15-wheezy-raspbian".

And add to github, now I know how to use it, thanks to watching RasPiThon live whole weekend ) http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1677

Good night,
Tomaz.

[SinnerG]

Newb here. I've only had my pi for about 2-3 weeks now and the first thing I'd planned to do with xbmc (like a ton of other people).

Initially found raspbmc and then openelec, but unfortunately both had major playback stuttering. This weekend I followed the build instructions, but was dumb enough to use an old raspbian base. Never got the thing to work. Then just popped 20/07 build from silas on and tried it last night.

I have to say this worked like a charm and is the best build I've used! HD playback of some 10GB H.264 movies from my SMB Win7 share played "mostly" smooth. "Mostly" = only stutter on start up. Shows that raspbian hf base was the way to go. Even CPU usage on idle was down 10% over openelec.

With these builds has any xbmc source code been altered? When I build raspbmc on my ubuntu vm I altered the gui max frame rate to a max of 30fps down from 100fps to drop the massive 98% cpu usage. Got it down to 25-30% cpu when the gui is idle. Made no difference to usability really. CPU usage on paused playback was still incredibly high though. I was thinking of putting that change back in again.

Currently I am looking to go with sdtv and analog stereo output (in too much debt to buy an HD TV .. but that's gonna be changing with the new job in September ). Does anyone have a major pop noise from the audio out on pause/resume? It's like a DC pop so I was thinking the easiest solution was some DC blocking cap on the audio output. I'm also thinking that perhaps on pause/resume the audio H/W is toggled on an off and it is the turn-on pop that's happening. Maybe somewhere in the code is where the problem can be solved?

[chricke]

Hi,

compiled xbmc on raspbian last weekend and noticed some problems with usb mouse and keyboard. Sometimes both stop working and i need to restart xbmc to get it working again.

When stopping / starting xbmc i sometimes notice some strange characters printed to the console although no keys were pressed - could this probably cause this problem? Does anyone else noticed something like this?

Regarding the instructions for building xbmc:
The article in the wiki seems not to be updated yet - is someone working on this? Because i am not a native speaker i would not like do the update, but when updated i would offer to do a german translation for the instructions (if wanted or needed).

[abishur]

Has anyone successfully used XBMC on Raspbian at full 1920x1080? I had started a thread asking about it, but I guess the people in the know pay the most attention to this thread

Here's a pic of what's happening when I try to put the screen in 1920x1080



1920x1080 is the resolution the pi boots to (I use hdmi_mode=16), and xbmc initially boots to it with the weird green artifacts, but once I lower the resolution the artifacts disappear.

[itsonlyme]

Yes. Using it 30 minutes ago to watch an HD TV recording at 1920x1080 without video problem, although some pops on sound.

Only possible difference on my system settings are that Enable LCD/VFD is not selected, not sure if your is or not.

No background bubbles etc. visible through settings page.

Never modified config.txt, and I think resolution set with rasbi-config for Rasbian is lower that 1920x1080

Malcolm

[fbutler]

[quote="abishur"]Has anyone successfully used XBMC on Raspbian at full 1920x1080? I had started a thread asking about it, but I guess the people in the know pay the most attention to this thread

Yes with no issues. Have you checked your memory split in case you are not allocating enough memory for the graphics?

[TarjeiB]

I believe it was mentioned earlier in this thread about 24/32bit depth being a bad idea and getting green artifacts, but not sure.

I'm running at hdmi_mode=16, no overscan and 1920x1080 just fine.

Also, XBMC does its own "resolution probing" of sorts, because when I remove the hdmi_mode=16 it will give me 1080i on the console (my passthrough receiver has that as max but can still pass through more) while when xbmc starts it switches to 1080p anyway. Don't know if that's useful but it does make some sense that there is a disrepancy between the config.txt and what console uses, and it would also explain that using difference in 16/32 bitmaps between the two could cause problems.

[dom]

Has anyone successfully used XBMC on Raspbian at full 1920x1080? I had started a thread asking about it, but I guess the people in the know pay the most attention to this thread
1920x1080 is the resolution the pi boots to (I use hdmi_mode=16), and xbmc initially boots to it with the weird green artifacts, but once I lower the resolution the artifacts disappear.

The artifacts look a bit like these:
http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting# ... VI_monitor

Have you tried config_hdmi_boost=4 (or more).

[jmg123]

1.) copy /boot/arm128_start.elf to /boot/start.elf
2.) set "disable_overscan=1"
3.) ask if you want to boot directly to XBMC (+ 5 sec timeout)

This seem too much specific to the RPi and also I'm not sure one would want to have his settings modified. The package would be broken if the user changes the start.elf or disable_overscan, without any possibility to fix it (except a dpkg-reconfigure).
Also, XBMC is not a daemon that runs in the background so I don't think that an option to "boot directly to XBMC" is wise here.
IMO the best would be to have a .deb with XBMC and a CLI "rpi-xbmc" with the ability to do everything else (setup, start on boot, self update, check for a newer .deb, etc.)
What do you think?

I agree, a second package to do the everything else part would offer the most flexibility.

tomaz, what options did you use with ./configure xbmc?

[romprod]

Has anyone successfully used XBMC on Raspbian at full 1920x1080? I had started a thread asking about it, but I guess the people in the know pay the most attention to this thread

Here's a pic of what's happening when I try to put the screen in 1920x1080



1920x1080 is the resolution the pi boots to (I use hdmi_mode=16), and xbmc initially boots to it with the weird green artifacts, but once I lower the resolution the artifacts disappear.

I have, used it at 1920x1080p and it worked fine, no artifacts at all.

_rp

[tomaz]

Hi jmg123,

I used: 2012-07-15-wheezy-raspbian and then like explained here, except you don't need to do "sudo rpi-update", because now it is included in apt-get update/upgrade. So at least you can delete on wiki this line :)

I just come home, so I have to finish what I promised and then write something people will understand, my english sucks I know, but I will try my best :)

Tomaz.

I agree, a second package to do the everything else part would offer the most flexibility.

tomaz, what options did you use with ./configure xbmc?

[abishur]

Has anyone successfully used XBMC on Raspbian at full 1920x1080? I had started a thread asking about it, but I guess the people in the know pay the most attention to this thread
1920x1080 is the resolution the pi boots to (I use hdmi_mode=16), and xbmc initially boots to it with the weird green artifacts, but once I lower the resolution the artifacts disappear.

The artifacts look a bit like these:
http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting# ... VI_monitor

Have you tried config_hdmi_boost=4 (or more).

This fixed it! I had to do the boost up to 6 to get it to work. It's weird that I didn't have this problem with squeeze, but whatever! One humorous side effect is now that it's the right resolution I can see my cursor flashing on standard def video

[payneardo]

sorry this was me being a numb nut, I forgot to check the HDMI boost and now with it on no problems and its all running fine

just watched a 720p video (well 2) and got quite a few video glitches during playback, ie got a fuzzy screen and sound would click off with a black screen ?

I am just setting up another image on a different SD card (as heard they are some problems with class 10's ??) and also going to try a different power supply as well.

I have got it setup for audio HMDI out and 5.1 and also DTS etc which maybe also causing a problem just wondered how everybody else has got it setup and if you are having the same issues ?

And I have also installed the HDMI-CEC which maybe causing an overhead ?

Cheers

Payneardo

[dmpalmer]

I tried compiling, and it runs into an internal compiler error:
...
I even tried installing gcc-4.7 inplace of the stock 4.6 and it gives the same error.

Anyone else run into this?

I turned on swapping into a 100 MB swapfile (with dphys-swapfile) and rebooted. Then when I ran make again, it compiled fully.

However, I kill the lxwindows system (ctrl-alt-delete, select xbmc as the session type, and log in with the pi account) and I get a black box in the upper-left quarter of the screen reading in part:

• XBMC requires hardware accelerated open GL support.
  Install an appropriate graphics driver.

Now what?

I am running on the Rasbdian image released July 18.

[jmg123]

Hi Everyone

I have got all my changes for the raspbian xbmc wiki page together, I have tried it on a fresh install of raspbian (on an SD card this time ) The code is now compiling now, but will take another few hours I think. I'll verify the final binaries before I modify the wiki, but here are the steps below if anyone is interested in trying them before I do that.

The steps below relate to the same step numbers here
1. Using the stock Raspbian image from the raspberry pi website
2. Unchanged

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 sudo cp /boot/arm224_start.elf /boot/start.elf

3. Changed to

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sudo reboot

4. Changed to include the dependencies for nfs, AirTunes and AirPlay

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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install build-essential autoconf ccache gawk gperf mesa-utils zip unzip
sudo apt-get install autotools-dev comerr-dev dpkg-dev libalsaplayer-dev \
    libapt-pkg-dev:armhf libasound2-dev:armhf libass-dev:armhf libatk1.0-dev \
    libavahi-client-dev libavahi-common-dev libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev \
    libafpclient0 libafpclient-dev libplist1 libplist-dev libshairport-dev \
    libavutil-dev libbison-dev:armhf libbluray-dev:armhf libboost1.49-dev \
    libbz2-dev:armhf libc-dev-bin libc6-dev:armhf libcaca-dev libcairo2-dev \
    libcdio-dev libclalsadrv-dev libcrypto++-dev libcups2-dev libcurl3-gnutls-dev \
    libdbus-1-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev libdirectfb-dev libdrm-dev libegl1-mesa-dev \
    libelf-dev libenca-dev libept-dev libevent-dev libexpat1-dev libflac-dev:armhf \
    libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev libfribidi-dev libgconf2-dev \
    libgcrypt11-dev libgdk-pixbuf2.0-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libgles2-mesa-dev \
    libglew-dev:armhf libglewmx-dev:armhf libglib2.0-dev libglu1-mesa-dev \
    libgnome-keyring-dev libgnutls-dev libgpg-error-dev libgtk2.0-dev libhal-dev \
    libhunspell-dev:armhf libice-dev:armhf libicu-dev libidn11-dev libiso9660-dev \
    libjasper-dev libjbig-dev:armhf libjconv-dev libjpeg8-dev:armhf libkrb5-dev \
    libldap2-dev:armhf libltdl-dev:armhf liblzo2-dev libmad0-dev libmicrohttpd-dev \
    libmodplug-dev libmp3lame-dev:armhf libmpeg2-4-dev libmysqlclient-dev \
    libncurses5-dev libnfs-dev libnspr4-dev libnss3-dev libogg-dev:armhf \ 
    libopenal-dev:armhf libp11-kit-dev libpam0g-dev:armhf libpango1.0-dev \
    libpcre++-dev libpcre3-dev libpixman-1-dev libpng12-dev \
    libprotobuf-dev libpthread-stubs0-dev:armhf \
    libpulse-dev:armhf librtmp-dev libsamplerate0-dev:armhf \
    libsdl-image1.2-dev:armhf libsdl1.2-dev libslang2-dev:armhf \
    libsm-dev:armhf libsmbclient-dev:armhf libspeex-dev:armhf \
    libsqlite3-dev libssh-dev libssh2-1-dev libssl-dev libstdc++6-4.6-dev \
    libtagcoll2-dev libtasn1-3-dev libtiff4-dev libtinfo-dev:armhf libtinyxml-dev \
    libts-dev:armhf libudev-dev libv8-dev libva-dev:armhf libvdpau-dev:armhf \
    libvorbis-dev:armhf libvpx-dev:armhf libwebp-dev:armhf libwibble-dev \
    libx11-dev:armhf libx11-xcb-dev libxapian-dev libxau-dev:armhf \
    libxcb-glx0-dev:armhf libxcb-render0-dev:armhf libxcb-shm0-dev:armhf \
    libxcb1-dev:armhf libxcomposite-dev libxcursor-dev:armhf libxdamage-dev \
    libxdmcp-dev:armhf libxext-dev:armhf libxfixes-dev libxft-dev libxi-dev \
    libxinerama-dev:armhf libxml2-dev:armhf libxmu-dev:armhf libxrandr-dev \
    libxrender-dev:armhf libxslt1-dev libxss-dev:armhf libxt-dev:armhf \
    libxtst-dev:armhf libxxf86vm-dev libyajl-dev libzip-dev linux-libc-dev:armhf \
    lzma-dev mesa-common-dev python-dev python2.7-dev x11proto-composite-dev \
    x11proto-core-dev x11proto-damage-dev x11proto-dri2-dev x11proto-fixes-dev \
    x11proto-gl-dev x11proto-input-dev x11proto-kb-dev x11proto-randr-dev \
    x11proto-record-dev x11proto-render-dev x11proto-scrnsaver-dev \
    x11proto-xext-dev x11proto-xf86vidmode-dev x11proto-xinerama-dev xtrans-dev \
    zlib1g-dev:armhf
    sudo apt-get clean

5. Unchanged

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sudo cp -R /opt/vc/include/* /usr/include
sudo cp /opt/vc/include/interface/vcos/pthreads/* /usr/include/interface/vcos

6. Changed this to use Beini's suggestion of not using symlinks

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sudo sh -c "echo /opt/vc/lib/ >> /etc/ld.so.conf.d/0_broadcom.conf"
sudo ldconfig
export C_INCLUDE_PATH=/opt/vc/include:/opt/vc/include/interface/vcos/pthreads
export CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH=/opt/vc/include:/opt/vc/include/interface/vcos/pthreads
export LDFLAGS="-L/opt/vc/lib"

7. Unchanged

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 git clone --depth 1 git://github.com/xbmc/xbmc-rbp.git

8. Unchanged

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cd xbmc-rbp/
sed -i 's/USE_BUILDROOT=1/USE_BUILDROOT=0/' tools/rbp/setup-sdk.sh
sed -i 's/TOOLCHAIN=\/usr\/local\/bcm-gcc/TOOLCHAIN=\/usr/' tools/rbp/setup-sdk.sh
sudo sh tools/rbp/setup-sdk.sh
sed -i 's/cd $(SOURCE); $(CONFIGURE)/#cd $(SOURCE); $(CONFIGURE)/' tools/rbp/depends/xbmc/Makefile

9. Unchanged

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make -C tools/rbp/depends/xbmc/

10. Changed to enable nfs AirTunes and AirPlay

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./configure --prefix=/usr --build=arm-linux-gnueabihf --host=arm-linux-gnueabihf \
   --localstatedir=/var/lib --with-platform=raspberry-pi --disable-gl --enable-gles \
   --disable-x11 --disable-sdl --enable-ccache --enable-optimizations \
   --enable-external-libraries --disable-goom --disable-hal --disable-pulse \
   --disable-vaapi --disable-vdpau --disable-xrandr --enable-airplay --enable-airtunes\
   --disable-alsa --enable-avahi --disable-libbluray --disable-dvdcss \
   --disable-debug --disable-joystick --enable-mid --enable-nfs --disable-profiling \
   --disable-projectm --enable-rsxs --enable-rtmp --disable-vaapi \
   --disable-vdadecoder --disable-external-ffmpeg  --disable-optical-drive

11. Unchanged

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sed -i 's/-msse2//' lib/libsquish/Makefile
sed -i 's/-DSQUISH_USE_SSE=2//' lib/libsquish/Makefile

12. Unchanged

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make

13. Unchanged

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sudo make install

[dom]

@jmg123
Please remove the Mesa GL libs as described here
http://raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic ... 25#p122419

[jmg123]

@jmg123
Please remove the Mesa GL libs as described here
http://raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic ... 25#p122419

Cheers Dom, i'd missed that one, I'll try it tonight. Does anyone know if libcec is supported on the pi yet? The latest git code compiles ok, but i haven't tried it yet

[mikfaina]

I will not be available for about a week, and also no new images until then

I nearly have a new image ready, but this will just be for those who like experimenting, because it isn't finished, and it's not tested.

Experimental images:
Changelog:
Fixed restart/shutdown
Fixed exit from xbmc
A tiny bit smoother UI (running at about 40fps)
Added usbmount package (automounts usb drives)
A even smaller 4GB image (untested)

Download:

The files are not fully uploaded yet, but will be available in about 30 minutes from now.

The normal image:
http://silenz.se/download/raspbian-xbmc ... img.tar.gz
The small one, now at 3.9GB (experimental):
http://silenz.se/download/raspbian-xbmc ... img.tar.gz

I have had some problems with my computer lately (most likely a halfway broken hard drive ), so this time they are in tar.gz instead of 7zip, so they are about 1.1GB to download instead. If someone would like to upload them in 7zip, thats ok for me.

See you in a week!

silas I have tried your raspbian-xbmc-2012-07-19-small.img 4GB image but I'm unable to write it to my card. I get an error message back saying "Not enough space on disk: Size 7744512 secotrs Available: 7626752 sectors Sector size: 512"

I'm using Win32 Disk Imager

Am I doing anything wrong or is there anything that I can do to make it fit on my "4GB" card?

Thanks.

Seems like your card was even smaller then tomaz's. It should work with this image

Hi all
I'm try to download silas image (1.1Gb) but it always interrupt. Only to me happen? There is another place where I could get it?
Thanks

Torrent link maybe?

[bob_binz]

@jmg123
Please remove the Mesa GL libs as described here
http://raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic ... 25#p122419

Cheers Dom, i'd missed that one, I'll try it tonight. Does anyone know if libcec is supported on the pi yet? The latest git code compiles ok, but i haven't tried it yet

Also, your entry at step 5 is not required if you're using the EXPORTs in step 6 (although these exports are not persistent, so could be added to a boot script, or your own .bashrc)

[jmg123]

@jmg123
Please remove the Mesa GL libs as described here
http://raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic ... 25#p122419

Cheers Dom, i'd missed that one, I'll try it tonight. Does anyone know if libcec is supported on the pi yet? The latest git code compiles ok, but i haven't tried it yet

Also, your entry at step 5 is not required if you're using the EXPORTs in step 6 (although these exports are not persistent, so could be added to a boot script, or your own .bashrc)

I'll add a command to cat them to ~/bashrc

Also there is a problem with xbmc/network/AirTunes.cpp not compiling, I think a proper fix is ready to be added to the xbmc git, but a temporary bodge in the meantime is to do this after step 11

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sed -i 's/ao.ao_set_metadata = AudioOutputFunctions::ao_set_metadata;/#ifdef HAVE_STRUCT_AUDIOOUTPUT_AO_SET_METADATA\n   ao.ao_set_metadata = AudioOutputFunctions::ao_set_metadata;/' xbmc/network/AirTunesServer.cpp

sed -i 's/ao.ao_set_metadata_coverart = AudioOutputFunctions::ao_set_metadata_coverart;/ao.ao_set_metadata_coverart = AudioOutputFunctions::ao_set_metadata_coverart;\n#endif\n/' xbmc/network/AirTunesServer.cpp

[Tavalin]

Also there is a problem with xbmc/network/AirTunes.cpp not compiling, I think a proper fix is ready to be added to the xbmc git, but a temporary bodge in the meantime is to do this after step 11

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sed -i 's/ao.ao_set_metadata = AudioOutputFunctions::ao_set_metadata;/#ifdef HAVE_STRUCT_AUDIOOUTPUT_AO_SET_METADATA\n   ao.ao_set_metadata = AudioOutputFunctions::ao_set_metadata;/' xbmc/network/AirTunesServer.cpp

sed -i 's/ao.ao_set_metadata_coverart = AudioOutputFunctions::ao_set_metadata_coverart;/ao.ao_set_metadata_coverart = AudioOutputFunctions::ao_set_metadata_coverart;\n#endif\n/' xbmc/network/AirTunesServer.cpp

Is this what's been stopping air tunes working properly?

[Beini]

I'm just preparing .deb installation file of XBMC, if anyone would be interested to test it ?

Wow, this sounds great. I'm certain there will be a lot of interest in this and a lot of feedback on the specific configuration options you chose. Being able to install/deinstall XBMC as a .deb is about as good as it gets.

There's already debian sources for this, I posted them a while back. Just saving you some work if you're planning doing the packaging yourself And I am actually updating them just now so they build with the debian libshairport.

They are as close as possible to the debian xbmc packages, as I feel copying the firmware etc. should be left to user. At least I wouldn't want debs messing with my memory split settings

The orig tarball is generated with the upstream xbmc-get-orig script.