Backwards compatibility broken with Kodi 18.7

[ProtossGP32]

Describe the bug

Jellycon fails to apply serveral features such as keeping track of watched videos or showing the Next Play episode option due to backwards incompatibilities with Kodi versions that still rely on Python 2.7. According to logs, this is caused by methods that annotate attributes with data types, such as the following one in utils.py:

def seconds_to_ticks(seconds:float):

To Reproduce

1. Install JellyCon v0.9.1+py2
2. Let the add-on initialize and wait for the error pop-up in Kodi
3. See error in kodi.log

Expected behavior

Add-on should initialize without errors and playback features like Next Play and Watched track should work as expected.

Logs

2026-03-07 19:50:36.839 T:1736913088   ERROR: EXCEPTION Thrown (PythonToCppException) : -->Python callback/script returned the following error<--
                                            - NOTE: IGNORING THIS CAN LEAD TO MEMORY LEAKS!
                                           Error Type: <type 'exceptions.SyntaxError'>
                                           Error Contents: invalid syntax (utils.py, line 462)
                                           Traceback (most recent call last):
                                             File "/home/pi/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.jellycon/service.py", line 12, in <module>
                                               from resources.lib.play_utils import Service, PlaybackService, send_progress
                                             File "/home/pi/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.jellycon/resources/lib/play_utils.py", line 19, in <module>
                                               from .jellyfin import api
                                             File "/home/pi/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.jellycon/resources/lib/jellyfin.py", line 11, in <module>
                                               from .utils import get_device_id, get_version, load_user_details
                                             File "/home/pi/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.jellycon/resources/lib/utils.py", line 462
                                               def seconds_to_ticks(seconds:float):
                                                                           ^
                                           SyntaxError: invalid syntax
                                           -->End of Python script error report<--

Screenshots

None

System (please complete the following information):

• OS: Raspbian 10 (buster)
• Jellyfin Version: Unknown, remote server
• Kodi Version: 18.7
• Addon Version: 0.9.1+py2

Additional context

According to the repository commit history, this issues seems to have been introduced last year with this commit, where several methods have data types and the typing module is imported (unavailable in Python2):
761dc8e

I can confirm that the issue starts with v0.9.0. Rolling back to 0.8.3 makes the watched episode and the Next Play options work as expected.

[jjlin]

https://kodi.tv/article/the-sun-sets-on-python-2/

It doesn't seem like there should be any expectation at this point that addons will continue to remain compatible with such old versions. Is there a specific reason you can't upgrade your Kodi?

[ProtossGP32]

https://kodi.tv/article/the-sun-sets-on-python-2/

It doesn't seem like there should be any expectation at this point that addons will continue to remain compatible with such old versions. Is there a specific reason you can't upgrade your Kodi?

Thanks for your reply! My main reason is that I'm using Kodi on an RPi3 RetroPie distribution in my living room. This distribution works as intended for all its purposes (retrogaming and media center) although it's old and not maintained anymore, so I don't want to tinker with it anymore than necessary just for any lateral component to crash. You know what they say: stable --> boring --> good.

I'm fully aware of Python 2's end of life, I try to keep as far away as possible from it, and I understand that at some point the add-on must drop compatibility with older versions. I just pointed this out because I haven't found minimim requirementd for it and as per my issue it is still possible to install the latest version of the add-on in Python 2-based systems (heck, even the version name included +py2 in its name!), so I though they should be safe to use.

I'll stick with version 0.8.3+py2 for the time being, it doesn't throw me errors and does what I expect it to do. I'll think of upgrading my stack once compatibility with Jellyfin server breaks.

[mcarlton00]

Kodi 18 and Python 2 were both dead in 2020. Our policy is to support the current Kodi version -1, so right now that's 21 and 20. Truthfully, the only reason it's worked this long is pure dumb luck and that I forgot I was even shipping a -py2 version. The danger's of CI, kids: out of sight, out of mind. Additionally, this will be virtually impossible to maintain as Kodi keeps moving forward and things like #406 need to happen.

I'm not maintaining a dead version/language without a damn good reason, and "I'm too lazy to change" isn't one. Sorry, bud. Also you should probably know that you've got a few months at best until the next server release and #407 is required, so you won't be able to use older versions anymore.