How to install xbmc module for Python
Question: I tried to find the setup script from xbmcscripts.com but apparently that site
is down. Neither 'easy_install' gives a desirable result. I'm running Ubuntu
11.04 and xbmc (Media Center) is installed and working alright. What I
basically need is the ability to import the xbmc module in Python
console/script like this,

    
    
    import xbmc
    
    url = '<a link to a .flv file goes here'
    xbmc.Player(xbmc.PLAYER_CORE_DVDPLAYER).play(url)
    

Thanks!


Answer: I haven't done any XBMC development myself but I thought I'd take a look at
this.

From what I can tell XBMC ships with its own Python interpreter
(`/usr/lib/xbmc/system/python/python24-i486-linux.so`) and the `xbmc`,
`xbmcgui` and `xbmcplugin` libraries are not available outside of XBMC itself.

As for the easiest way to develop for XBMC with regards to experimenting,
testing and debugging. Here's some tips:

  * Running XBMC in a window and always on top might be handy (use `\` in fullscreen mode)
  * Any print statements inside an add-on/script end up as notices in the log (`~/.xbmc/temp/xbmc.log`)
  * You could create an add-on that exposes a Python shell from within the context of XBMC (that you communicate with over say Telnet)

There are references scattered around to something that used to be on
XMBCscripts.com referred to as an "XBMC emulator" which apparently implemented
the functionality of those libraries outside of XBMC but I can't find it
anywhere.

**Relevant documentation:**

  * <http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Python_Development>
  * <http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO_debug_Python_Scripts>
  * <http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:_Automatically_start_addons_using_services>
  * <http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Log_File>

**External links:**

  * [XBMC's Python Script and Plugin Addon Development Forum](http://forum.xbmc.org/forumdisplay.php?f=26)

