After some hard work, it is now time to test Debian 11 (Bullseye) for all currently supported devices. We need feedback before we can release this as a stable update.
We have conducted testing internally and would now like to expand testing to our user base that wish to do the same. The more testers we get, the quicker we can get this out of the door as a regular upgrade.
There are some significant changes:
The default and only Python interpreter is Python 3.x. Previously, we included Python 2 as this was needed for the Samba server package. As a result, a significant amount of space is saved on the root filesystem and initial installation. If you have your own scripts which use Python 2, youâll need to upgrade these to use Python 3.
New installations of OSMC (i.e. using the images below) will contain the usrmerge package. This means that /{bin,sbin,lib}/ directories become symbolic links to /usr/{bin,sbin,lib}/. You can learn more about this here. Debian 12 (Bookworm) will only support the merged usr-root filesystem layout.
Weâve also made a number of OSMC improvements, and these will be documented separately with the forum post
HD audio passthrough should now work on the Raspberry Pi 4.
Refactored Kodi video playback stack on Vero 4K/4K+ (26/05/2022)
Improved OSMC Skin performance (04/07/2022)
Known outstanding issues (will be added as discovered / reported)
TBC
Solved issues
Updated to Kodi v19.5 which will be released on 01/06 (this will still show as v19.4 under System Info currently) (26/05/2022)
Fixed an issue which caused some devices (notably FLIRC) to behave badly and have repeat presses. (26/05/2022).
Fixed preseeding support via OSMC installer (27/05/2022).
Fixed issue with VC-1 playback being choppy (02/06/2022)
Fixed playback race condition on Vero 4K/4K+ (04/07/2022)
Fixed issues when pairing and remembering devices that used a Bluetooth PIN (22/07/2022)
Fixed an issue which caused exFAT drives to be mounted with prohibitive permissions (22/07/2022)
Fixed an issue where some videos were not playing correctly (24/07/2022)
Updated Vero 4K/4K+ kernel with new video stack and a number of improvements (27/07/2022)
Fix CRDA configuration in My OSMC and improve tethering logging (27/07/2022)
Add-on improvements (01/08/2022)
Fixed WiFi connectivity issues (09/08/2022)
Fixed VP9 playback issues on Vero 4K/4K+ (12/08/2022)
Fix seeking issue causing a green screen on Vero 4K/4K+ (16/08/2022)
Fixed an issue where some Bluetooth devices would not automatically re-connect. (22/08/2022)
Fixed an issue with a stuck pixel in the top left corner (25/08/2022)
Add Bluetooth disconnection option (25/08/2022)
Vero 4K/4K+: Improved VC-1 playback (02/09/2022)
Home screen adjustments and minor improvements (03/09/2022)
Vero 4K/4K+: remove EDID 3D parsing limitation (10/09/2022)
Instructions
Please note that the only way to downgrade after installing this is to reinstall OSMC; unless you really know what you are doing. Please take a backup of any important data before testing.
Run the following command to add the staging repository: echo 'deb http://apt.osmc.tv buster-devel main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/osmc-devel.list
Check for updates via the My OSMC interface by going to My OSMC â Updates â Manual Controls â Check for Updates now. Install the updates when prompted to do so.
Your system should have have received the update.
Please note: the use of âbuster-develâ instead of âbullseye-develâ is intentional. OSMC will perform the necessary repository migrations and we want to check that this works as expected.
To test this update as a fresh installation, you can use an image for your device:
So far so good here. Iâm now running the Git build from 20220512-osmc, and the operating system is showing OSMC 2022.05-1 (kernel 4.9.113-66-osmc). Iâve tried a few different videos with different codecs and resolution as well as music, running a couple addons I use frequently, and checking Live TV. Iâve got it on my main TV, so Iâll be able to do more testing tonight when the spouse and I sit down to watch TV for the evening.
Question about the bullseye-devel branch. Should we keep accepting updates from it during this testing, or should I remove the osmc-devel.list file from sources.list.d? Since this is on my main unit now, Iâd rather not be getting even more development updates unless theyâre specific to this testing.
I only ask because I got prompted to do updates this morning (which I did).
Just installed bullseye. Upgrade went smoothly, but I seem to have duplicate remote keypresses which werenât present before. I hear the âclickâ twice (or sometimes even 3 times) but pressing up/down in the main menu for instance, sometimes only moves the cursor once. I use this as my main TV and if I press Guide, the guide briefly flashes up before disappearing again (due to the second phantom press I guess).
For context, I use an MCE RC6 remote; I had the rc6-mce-lircd config selected. I use the associated IR receiver that came with it, and blacklist meson_ir in modprobe.d. I found this the most reliable setup as the internal receiver didnât seem to respond very well to this remote. This has worked very well since I got the device, until now
I tried swapping out the RC6 config for a Samsung TV remote in My OSMC with the same results.
Not sure how to start debugging this, what information can I give you? Iâm sceptical its my configuration as it worked great until before the upgrade, wondering if thereâs something changed in lirc, perhaps I need to tweak some repeat delay?
Just to confirm, this is only affecting IR remotes, the OSMC RF remote is absolutely fine. I just use my own IR as I like having more buttons (direct button to TV Guide in particular)
If you donât want updates, then turn off automatic updates. But each update you will get on devel will be an improvement
If you remove the devel list, youâll get debian updates on version 11 (Bullseye) but not osmc ones. I doubt there will be any osmc updates on devel not specific to this testing. From testing so far, it looks like Bullseye will be in the main repo âreal soon nowâ.
Thatâs good to know. Honestly, I didnât want to accidentally get a very early Kodi Nexus build on this and have to reformat it. Any time I put the devel branch on my main unit, I risk my spouse becoming Very Upset, thus I am taking my life into my own hands here.
Can anyone please state the correct content of
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/
and
/etc/apt/sources.list
after the update?
My Raspy got bullseye today - but without altering the apt sources within the last monthsâŚ
I can also confirm havok with lirc IR remotes. (I use a custom lirc.conf designed for a JP1 programmable remote).
In my case itâs not just doubled, it can be 3-4 âclicksâ being picked up.
Iâve tried bumping up the gap to rediculus numbers, but that does not seem to have any effect.
two days ago I updated my Vero 4K+ to the May release through the âMy OSMCâ UI.
I was running the (by then) latest version before that (March release?).
Anyway, the May update rendered IR control unusable for me: every time I press a button on my remote, it bounces and is interpreted by the systems as a series of multiple button presses, eg. I press âRightâ once and Kodi sees 3-4 âRightâ events immediately.
This happens for all buttons I tried and makes navigating the UI impossible.
I am using the osmc-remote-lircd.conf and I have not changed anything.
Itâs also definitely not caused by the remote itself.
Not sure if this helps: I had (from my point of view) the exact same issue two years ago, too, and it was fixed at some point: IR woes with vero 4K+ - #10 by _sebastian
Thanks Randall, at least in my case, thatâs not working though.
Killing eventlircd causes Kodi to stop reacting to IR commands (as expected) and launching lircd afterwards does not change that.
I also noticed that after a reboot ir-keytable for me shows Driver: meson-ir which does not seem to be a valid choice for lircdâs --driver option.
Iâm using the Vero 4K+'s builtin IR functionality via the included extension IR header.
It will be removed after 14 days automatically.
I will push updates regularly to both the development and stable repositories, so it doesnât matter which one you stay with now.
But Iâve run a few test clips, and no obvious problems so far. 
