Can’t get xbox360 controller to work with Debian Kodi

Hi – One of my first posts here so please be gentle. I saw some posts with ubuntu and mint having similar probs and I’m not seeing some config files they have (probably because they are using ubuntu-xboxdriv which I am not using ubuntu). I’m running debian jessie with a backported Kodi from SID (version 17). I’m trying connect my xbox360 wireless controller to control Kodi but am having no luck. I’ve disabled the xpad driver and am using xboxdriv. Using xboxdriv, I can use the controllers with retroarch. So I know at least the OS can see the joystick. However, nothing happens with kodi. I’ve tried the Kodi’s settings/system/input to access the controller configuration (this is the window that looks like the xbox360 controller). I cannot set any buttons. I’ve tried some keymapping xml file without luck. Tried running Kodi as root and still no luck. This isn’t a one computer specific prob. I can repeat the problem with just xorg, kodi and xboxdriv installed on a barebones netinstall debian on a totally different machine.
Can someone point me to ways to fix this problem?