LE 9.0 to LE 12.0 Upgrade

    Excuse me if this has been answered, but I can't find an definitive answer on me two questions.

    I intend to move from a RPi3 on 9.0.2 to RPi4 with 12.0. I use a MariaDB SQL database on a NAS and my files are also stored there. I understand this requires a fresh install. So my questions are.

    1. Will the new RPi4 automatically upgrade the Shema when setup to use MariaDB? And,

    2. Is there a way to backup the 9.0.2. local setup, plugins, API keys, logins etc. and then restore those on 12.0?

    Thanks in advance.

    Douw.

    1. Yes, the schema will be updated as part of the database migration

    2. Yes, create a clean install of LE12 on the RPi4 and stop Kodi and delete /storage/.kodi/userdata, then with the RPi3 powered on and connected to the network, SSH in and "scp -r /storage/.kodi/userdata [email protected]:/storage/.kodi" (change the IP for whatever the RPi4 is using) to recursively copy the essential Kodi config over to the RPi4 using scp, then when done, restart Kodi and the DB migration should start: run "tail -f /storage/.kodi/kodi.log" to see it happen. Adapt the same scp command to transfer any other bits of config that are important.

    NB: On the RPi4 you will need to reinstall repos and add-ons. We have intentionally not copied them due to the Python2 to Python3 change in LE10+ and the arm > aarch64 change in LE12. However their settings data was already copied. Everything else should be in the DB on the NAS. If you find something is missing you almost always stop Kodi, scp the data over, restart Kodi.

    Quick note, maybe someone else will find useful.

    I had previously upgraded the RPi3 to LE11/Kodi 20. But because of the well known problems with HD content is rolled back to LE9. This left a MyVideos121 on the DB server. Consequently, LE12 upgraded that DB instead of the MyVideos116 DB that I was actually still using.

    Easy fix: Stop the new Kodi, drop MyVideos131 and 121 with phpMyAdmin and start Kodi again.