Overview

Sometimes things can go wrong. By collating and submitting a detailed bug report OSMC developers and the wider community can resolve the issue more quickly.

Where should you report these issues?

Unless it has been ascertained that the issue a confirmed bug in OSMC itself, GitHub should be avoided. We ask kindly that users initially use our support forum until it is indeed verified that the issue is caused by a bug in OSMC.

Please clearly explain the problem

In your report, please let us know:

  • The issue you are currently experiencing with OSMC
  • What you were doing when this issue occurred
  • Whether you can replicate this issue on demand. If you can, then please provide some steps on how an OSMC developer can reproduce the same issue.
  • The device you are currently running OSMC on
  • What peripherals are attached to the device?
  • Has this issue been introduced by a new version of OSMC? When did the issue first appear and can you recall a time when it was not present?

Providing diagnostic logs

Logs are needed so we can identify problems quickly. A full set of logs should be uploaded with ease via My OSMC.

Before uploading any logs, you should ensure that Debugging is enabled in Kodi. This can be done by going to Settings → System → Logging → and selecting Enable Debugging. You should then perform a reboot of your device twice and perform only the minimum actions required to replicate this issue so that it is easy to identify the cause of the problem.

If you are using the default OSMC skin, then My OSMC will be accessible via your Home screen. If you are using Confluence then it will be available via the Settings sub-menu. For other skins, My OSMC can be found via the Programs section. Before doing so, you should read the rest of this article.

After opening My OSMC, navigate to Logs. Using this method will result in a URL link that you should provide so that others may be able to view.

Kodi related issues

Did you know?: Some add-ons can cause problems with Kodi and OSMC. Did you install an addon recently before experiencing a Kodi issue? Try disabling it via Settings → Add-ons and seeing if the issue goes away. If it does, you should contact the add-on developer for support.

Playback related issues: using MediaInfo

Video and audio comes in a variety of formats. MediaInfo is an application which displays information about the encoded format, the container and other technical elements.

We can use this to see identify problematic files as well as identify issues with playback.

To obtain and upload MediaInfo output:

  1. Download and install MediaInfo
  2. Run MediaInfo and use it to ‘Open’ the file you want to inspect.
  3. Switch view from MediaInfo menu, select ‘View’ then from the drop down list select ‘Text’.
  4. You can select the text in MediaInfo and then copy and paste this output to https://paste.osmc.tv.
  5. Provide the generated link in your forum post and give us much information about the problem as possible.

When you can’t upload logs via My OSMC

If Kodi is not loading, or you are experiencing an issue with My OSMC, you may find yourself unable to upload logs from your remote. Logs can also be uploaded via the command line and result in a URL you can provide for support by running the following command:

grab-logs -A

Sanitizing your logs

While generally the script tries to hide all passwords we know that certain people still are not comfortable with any information shared. If you are one of those first create the file locally, edit it and then upload it. To do so use:

grab-logs -A -C
nano /boot/uploadlog.txt
paste-log /boot/uploadlog.txt

If you upload a such altered log file please let us know so that we don’t wonder about possible gaps.

Help us help you:

  • Please use the official OSMC pastebin
  • Please do not upload logs as free text in forum posts
  • Don’t trim any logs, doing so may hide the problem.

Submitting Kodi Screenshots

By posting a Kodi screenshot in your support question, it may help diagnose the problem.

You can take screenshots of Kodi when it’s running, by running the following command via ssh/command line:

kodi-send --action=TakeScreenshot

You can chose where you want to save screenshots in the System->Settings-Debug->Screenshot Folder.

If you don’t define a screenshot folder before taking a screenshot, a file browser window will appear on the Kodi display, so you can choose one.

The best location to save the screenshots, is a networked drive where you can access the file.
If you save the screenshots on the osmc device, you could transfer the screenshots to your Desktop, with ssh/scp.

The files are named screenshot###.png