Call for testing BTRFS Assistant

[HMS_Endeavour]

@dalto

If that is your whole /etc/fstab, then nothing should need to be changed. snapper will automatically create those subvolumes for you.

Yes that’s the whole fstab

@dalto

In the spirit of full disclosure I would point out what this package does:

• It forces the removal of timeshift and timeshift-autosnap
• It installs and configured snapper, snap-pac and grub-btrfs
• It creates an initial snapper config for /
• It enables the snapper-timeline and snapper-cleanup timers
• It enables the grub-btrfs path unit(This regenerates the grub snapshot menu when a snapshot is taken)

What would happen to the present snapshots and btrfs subvolumes?

How will we restore a selected snapshot from the grub menu? We usually select the corresponding snapshot in Timeshift and restore.

What do you see are the advantages of snapper over timeshift-snapper?

Sorry for all the questions, but I am always careful not to break what isn’t broken, when I don’t know much about a subject.

Michael

[dalto]

@HMS_Endeavour

What would happen to the present snapshots and btrfs subvolumes?

Are you referring to btrfs-assistant or snapper-support? Either way, they don’t delete your existing subvolumes/timeshift snapshots.

@HMS_Endeavour

How will we restore a selected snapshot from the grub menu?

If you want to boot into a snapshot, you can use grub-btrfs, the same as timeshift. If you want to restore a snapshot, you open btrfs-assistant, go to restore mode, select the snapshot and hit ‘restore’ and reboot.

@HMS_Endeavour

What do you see are the advantages of snapper over timeshift-snapper?

I am not sure what timeshift-snapper is but I will assume you mean timeshift

• snapper supports taking snapshots of any mounted subvolume, not only @ or @home.
• snapper allows you to name your snapshots however you like
• snapper supports both flat and nested subvolume layouts
• snapper creates read-only snapshots
• tools have been created for snapper which allow snapshot replication to external hosts/devices to allow snapshots to be used as part of a backup strategy
• snapper doesn’t require the root of the btrfs partition to be mounted

Basically, snapper is both more powerful and more flexible.

That being said, if you are happy with what timeshift is doing for you, there is no reason to switch. You should only switch to snapper if the limitations in timeshift bother you.

[HMS_Endeavour]

Thanks for the detailed response.

@dalto

am not sure what timeshift-snapper is but I will assume you mean timeshift

It was a typo: I meant timeshift-autosnap, which you already said is forcibly deleted at install of BTRFS Assistant.

@dalto

tools have been created for snapper which allow snapshot replication to external hosts/devices

Can BTRFS Assistant browse to a snapshop on an external USB and restore it?
What are the steps from booting up in the grub menu and restoring a rw snapshot from an external device?

This is what I have now.

Is this set up ok to git clone BTRFS Assistant?
Are there any other packages I need, or does it pull in the dependencies?

Thanks for a great project. I like using more advanced tools to make life easier.

Michael

[dalto]

@HMS_Endeavour

Can BTRFS Assistant browse to a snapshop on an external USB and restore it?

Nothing can do that. btrfs snapshots don’t work that way.

@HMS_Endeavour

What are the steps from booting up in the grub menu and restoring a rw snapshot from an external device?

You would first have to use snapshot replication to replicate the snapshot to the target device, then you could use btrfs-assistant to restore it.

@HMS_Endeavour

Is this set up ok to git clone BTRFS Assistant?

No problems there.

@HMS_Endeavour

Are there any other packages I need, or does it pull in the dependencies?

It pulls in the dependencies it needs to run but you probably want to install the optional dependencies as well, snapper and btrfsmaintenance If you want snap-pac or btrfs-grub you will need to install those as well.

[MindTheGAAP]

on my Arch machine, I have the following settings. Does it look right to you guys?

[dalto]

I don’t think there is really a “right” way to do it.

Is there a reason you are only balancing and scrubbing your root filesystem?

[MindTheGAAP]

@dalto

nci

Hi Dalto. I haven’t touched the settings. I believe these are all the default settings. May be I should apply the balance, scrub and defrag to all subvolumes.

Also, I noticed that I check marks for the Trim Timer and Defrag Timer boxes won’t save. When I reopen after saving, they show unchecked for some reason.

Part of Arch install, I did enable weekly trim with this command systemctl enable fstrim.timer

[dalto]

@MindTheGAAP

May be I should apply the balance, scrub and defrag to all subvolumes.

That is up to you. If you enable the defrag, I would do it infrequently. Monthly at most. I usually leave it disabled on an SSD.

@MindTheGAAP

Also, I noticed that I check marks for the Trim Timer and Defrag Timer boxes won’t save. When I reopen after saving, they show unchecked for some reason.

That sounds like a bug I need to look at.

@MindTheGAAP

Part of Arch install, I did enable weekly trim with this command systemctl enable fstrim.timer

You don’t need to enable both. I would use the normal fstrim.timer instead of the btrfs maintenance one.

[MindTheGAAP]

Thank you for the clarification.

Do you think since I have fstrim enabled, I can’t enable Trim Timer in the app?

[dalto]

@MindTheGAAP

Do you think since I have fstrim enabled, I can’t enable Trim Timer in the app?

Nope. I think it is a bug in the application I need to fix.

[ricklinux]

Hmm? I’m not so sure is a bug?

[Zesko]

@measmityadav

I’l try it in a Gnome VM.

@dalto

You could try running this as the root user:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme 'Adwaita-dark'

That being said, I found that in a google search, I haven’t tested it.

No, it does not work in Gnome, because GUI of BTRFS-assistant is not GTK, but QT.
Try to install gt5ct, then run it as root sudo qt5ct that can change the theme for BTRFS-assistant.

But sudo qt5ct does not offer many themes, then try to install kvantum and change the style to kvantum in the setting of sudo qt5ct . You need to run sudo kvantummanager that can add/change any theme for BTRFS-assistant.

[dalto]

@MindTheGAAP

Also, I noticed that I check marks for the Trim Timer and Defrag Timer boxes won’t save. When I reopen after saving, they show unchecked for some reason.

Hmm…so this is interesting. The issue is that Btrfs Maintenance is managing those services. So basically, Btrfs Assistant enables them and then Btrfs Maintenance disables them again.

I should probably remove those checkboxes if Btrfs Maintenance manages them.

[MindTheGAAP]

@dalto

Btrfs Maintenance

Hi Dalto, when you say “BTRFS Maintenance”, are you referring to the back end of BTRFS file system ? Or is there a specific script that you are referring to?

[dalto]

@MindTheGAAP

when you say “BTRFS Maintenance”, are you referring to the back end of BTRFS file system ? Or is there a specific script that you are referring to?

I am referring to https://github.com/kdave/btrfsmaintenance which is what that tab controls.

[MindTheGAAP]

aah gotcha!

[dalto]

I am closing this now because 1.0 is coming soon and most of the information in this topic is out of date and no longer correct.

I will start a new topic for 1.0 testing soon.