A question about librarySubstitutions and the whole setup in general

[usr97629238]

Sorry, but the setup instructions are as clear as mud. No offence, but these should be laid out step-by-step with explicit definitions and examples. Like:

1. Configure all settings in Elementum on the client, including Trakt and the Elementum Burst addon (as it will disappear from the Elementum menu once you switch to the client mode).
2. Export the configuration using -exportConfig.
3. Copy the whatever addon_settings folder from the client (Kodi) to the Docker.
4. Define clearly what each port is supposed to do:

• LOCAL_PORT (the Docker part): what the server is supposed to be listening to on that one
• Same for the REMOTE_PORT (the Docker part), LOCAL_PORT (the Kodi part), REMOTE_PORT (the Kodi part)
  And so forth

I've somehow managed to get it working, but several points remain unclear:

1. Is the disappearing Elementum Burst addon's settings fixable?
2. You've totally lost me with the librarySubstitutions switch and the Library integration in general. A concrete example would be nice. In particular - are strm files supposed to reside on the Kodi (client) filesystem as in a typical setup? Or are they expected to exist on the Docker side and be mirrored or mapped somehow?
3. More broadly, can the whole setup be structured differently so that:

• The Docker container only handles downloading and re-streaming,
• While all logic and configuration remain on the client side, easily accessible via the Kodi GUI?

Cause right now, everything is centralized in Docker, with no convenient way to manage that from the client:

• Docker runs Elementum + Trakt + logic,
• Kodi client becomes mostly a thin frontend,
• Configs are trapped in Docker (with no GUI),
• Filesystem (strm and Library) is also trapped in Docker (unless the librarySubstitutions switch fixes that somehow)

Also what could be causing this?
elementum | ERRO bittorrent ▶ logAlerts lsd_error_alert: Local Service Discovery error: No such device

[antonsoroko]

@usr97629238

Sorry, but the setup instructions are as clear as mud. No offence, but these should be laid out step-by-step with explicit definitions and examples.

If you can create a PR with changes to make docs better - please do. For me everything is clear since i wrote the whole thing :-) that's why ideally docs should by written be tech writers not by devs :-)
(Also I made it just for fun, so i am not using it at the moment, so some things were not tested.)

Define clearly what each port is supposed to do:

but have you seen comments in https://github.com/ElementumOrg/elementum-docker/blob/main/example.env ?
and https://github.com/ElementumOrg/elementum-docker/blob/main/client_mode.png
looks clear to me.
i do not think i can describe it better. please propose changes (PR).

Export the configuration using -exportConfig.
Copy the whatever addon_settings folder from the client (Kodi) to the Docker.

i do not suggest to use exportConfig (and thus -configPath) and copy old files. that's why it is not in doc. not sure why you decided to use it. i have not used exportConfig, thus my elementum's settings were on Kodi side.

all next things about "configuration" seems to be connected to the fact that you decided to use exportConfig.
afaik, without it you will be able to configure elementum via Kodi UI.
only conf you need is https://github.com/ElementumOrg/elementum-docker/blob/main/example.env
and it mostly has only ports IPs. it does not have any UI-related settings.

the only thing - nowadays trakt token updated every day so if docker is always running then Kodi must be running at the moment of token update. see elgatito/plugin.video.elementum#1156 (comment)

While all logic and configuration remain on the client side, easily accessible via the Kodi GUI?
Configs are trapped in Docker (with no GUI),

as i wrote above - in my setup all configs were managed by Kodi.

Kodi client becomes mostly a thin frontend,

kodi always is a thin frontend for elementum. all logic is in golang part. python part (kodi addon, the UI) is just a client.

You've totally lost me with the librarySubstitutions switch and the Library integration in general. A concrete example would be nice.

librarySubstitutions needed only if you run kodi and docker on different OSes as described in readme, with example.

In particular - are strm files supposed to reside on the Kodi (client) filesystem as in a typical setup? Or are they expected to exist on the Docker side and be mirrored or mapped somehow?

it does not matter. it is up to you. you just need to store them anywhere and make them available in BOTH places.
if it is easier to you to share from Kodi device to Docker device - do this, if it is easier to you to share from Docker device to Kodi device - do this. or you can store them on NAS Server and share to Kodi and to Docker server. Readme says that but in a brief manner.
you can use "(via SMB or NFS, for example)" to "mirrored or mapped somehow".
in docker compose we already pass "data directory" (it has library) to container, see volumes section.
so you local directory must be set in

elementum-docker/example.env

Line 6 in f0bc0e7

ELEMENTUM_DATA=/home/user/downloads/elementum_data/

then you either share this directory to Kodi, or from Kodi device share some directory to docker server. then you change this path ELEMENTUM_DATA to your path.

then you do

add Movies and Shows sub-directories to Kodi as sources (the same way like you do in a regular setup) and enable library sync in Elementum via DISABLE_LIBRARY_SYNC=false.

this should be clear since this is standard Kodi thing.

elementum | ERRO bittorrent ▶ logAlerts lsd_error_alert: Local Service Discovery error: No such device

my guess you set up docker container to run NOT in bridge mode, so elementum can't use "Local Service Discovery" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Peer_Discovery

but i have not verified this.