Kodi 19 'Matrix' with Python 3 now available to download, but be warned

As well as rolling out a new build for Kodi 18 'Leia', the popular home theater developer has made a major change to its next big release -- Kodi 19 'Matrix'.

Python 2 is set to hit its end of life on January 1 2020, and in preparation for this, the Kodi Foundation has taken the step of switching to the Python 3 interpreter for all Python-based add-ons.

Although this change is now live in the nightly builds for Kodi 19, it does mean -- ironically -- glitches in the 'Matrix'.

Team Kodi explains:

This migration is very much a breaking change for us, and there's a lot of work that needs to be done to get things fully functional again. This also needs to be done quickly, as we need to be complete before the end of life of Python 2 happens.

The biggest problem is the changeover means a large number of add-ons will no longer work, but that’s not all.

There are also issues that need core developer knowledge to fix. Since moving to Python 3 there are some difficulties on all Windows platforms in particular. The version of Kodi for UWP (Xbox) does not compile at all, and needs someone to champion it. There are also issues with certain libraries e.g. Pillow, PyCryptodome, cTypes etc., being missing or incompatible versions, so those add-ons that depend on them don't run and can't be tested on Windows.

Team Kodi also cautions that "Things will be a little raw at the edges until we can get these things fixed, so bear with us."

If you're prepared to take the risk, or want to help out, you can download Kodi 19 'Matrix' with Python 3 from the Development Builds tab on the downloads page.

Photo credit: exile_artist / Shutterstock