I had a closer look to all this, and especially the docker-headless repository.
What I found is that Kodi does not come officially with a --headless parameter.
The docker-headless script adds a patch for a --headless parameter and then compiles from scratch all of Kodi. There must be some background as to why Kodi does not include this elemental patch for a --headless parameter.
Here are a few ways forward.
- Adapt the docker-headless script to apply the patch and recompile Kodi from source in order to have a
--headlessparameter. This would work fine, and it would be the solution if the two following are not viable. - Set up X2Go on the server so that Kodi runs with a GUI. Then, you can configure Kodi through the GUI. Note that there will be no graphics acceleration, therefore you would only be able to use the menus, not play videos. There is a pending guide on X2Go that should come out shortly (@bmullan, would Kodi work with X2Go?)
- Create a snap package of Kodi, one that has the
--headlessoption built-in. There is already a beta package for Kodi, and can be installed according to the instructions at http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/05/kodi-popular-media-center-now-available-snap-app Using the same snap configuration, it would be easy to generate a variant that has the--headlesspatch (snapcraft.yaml).
I think the snap package (option 3) would be the easier to do. It would require to take the snapcraft.yaml, remove anything that is graphics related, add the patch for --headless and that’s it. See https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/kodi-snap-call-for-testing/838/11 for more on this.