[jkix23]

This is my first post, so I hope I posted it in the right spot. 

I am trying to compile Kodi for myself that has addons preinstalled. For example Crackle, so that when I first install the Kodi APK Crackle will already be installed and ready to use right away. 

From what I have read and tried to figure out on my own, I should add the zip of the addon to the addons folder, and then edit the addons xml file. Which I have done, but when I do that the image for the addon appears in Kodi and it says it is installed, but each time I try to use it, the addon has an error and does not work. 

Is this because I do not have all the dependencies installed? Like when I install Crackle form the Kodi repository it installs a bunch of other stuff too? 
Or is there another step I am missing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Rechi]

Yes you have to bundle it's dependencies and also all dependencies of the dependencies and so on.

[jkix23]

Yes you have to bundle it's dependencies and also all dependencies of the dependencies and so on.

Awesome, thank you for the clarification. Now for a follow up question, how do I bundle the dependencies also?

[jkix23]

I wanted to update my post and let everyone know I figured it out. The issue was I was trying to download the add ons from Githuib and places like that but it wasn't working, so instead I download the add on to Kodi on an Android phone, and copied all the add ons from the phone. 

For example with Crackle I installed a new version of Kodi on my Android phone and then used ES file manager to locate the add on folder which was in local storage> Android> Data> org.xbmc.kodi>files> .kodi> addons. You may need to enable hidden folders in ES file manager to see some of these folders/ I then noted how many addons were already there, and opened up Kodi and installed the Crackle add ons, and all other add ons it required. I then went back to the add ons folder through ES file manager, and zipped up all the new add ons that were listed. 

I then had the Kodi add on already decompiled using APKtool on my computer, and went to assets>addons, and unzipped all the Crackle add ons in that folder. I then edited the addon-manifest.xml by going to assets> system, and added <addon></addon> lines for the new Crackle add ons. In this case it was 6 additional lines that need to be added. I used Notepad ++.

I finally recompiled the Kodi apk, and signed it, and the Crackle add on worked perfect right on first boot. 

Looking back now the process is so simple, but I was confusing myself so much, that it was helpful to write this post and force myself to rethink the process.

[Atreyu]

Thanks for coming back and writing it up here so others can benefit