Timeshift couldn't delete old snapshots, shows errors, file system read only

General system Applications
1

Hi,

I use timeshift with autosnap and now it runs into errors each time it’s called (i.e. when I update the system).
I don’t really know how this problem appeared, I think after an update…

It says it cannot remove snapshots as the files system is read only.

rm: impossible de supprimer '/run/timeshift/backup/timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2021-09-20_16-05-03/@/[...]': Système de fichiers accessible en lecture seulement

E: Failed to remove snapshot: 2021-09-20_16-05-03

The snapshots related to the problem don’t appear in the list if I launch the timeshift app.
Only one snapshot was mentioned in the first place, but know there’s three, and I guess it will go on and on each time it will try to remove the old ones to replace it with the newest…

Does anybody have an idea how I could deal with this issue by any chance ? (and… yes… I should deal with snapshot manually instead of using timeshift I guess :upside_down_face:)

Cheers !

2

For a period of time, the AUR package was patched to create read-only snapshots. After this issue was discovered, the patch was removed.

Delete the snapshots manually with the command

sudo btrfs subvolume delete /path/to/snapshot

Once all the read-only snapshots are removed, they shouldn’t come back since the patch has been removed.

1 Like
3

Many thanks !

I was able to remove the “problematic” snapshots manually, I guess the issue shouldn’t come back then !

Cheers !

Summary 
rm: impossible de supprimer '/run/timeshift/backup/timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2021-08-31_20-40-56/@/swap': Système de fichiers accessible en lecture seulement

E: Failed to remove snapshot: 2021-08-31_20-40-56
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Removing snapshot: 2021-09-20_15-54-40
Deleted directory: /run/timeshift/backup/timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2021-09-20_15-54-40
Removed snapshot: 2021-09-20_15-54-40
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[jmb@n53sv ~]$ sudo btrfs subvolume delete /run/timeshift/backup/timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2021-08-31_20-40-56/@
Delete subvolume (no-commit): '/run/timeshift/backup/timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2021-08-31_20-40-56/@'
[jmb@n53sv ~]$ sudo timeshift --check
Using system disk as snapshot device for creating snapshots in BTRFS mode

/dev/dm-0 is mounted at: /run/timeshift/backup, options: rw,relatime,compress=zstd:3,ssd,space_cache,autodefrag,subvolid=5,subvol=/

Boot snapshots are enabled
Last boot snapshot is 4 hours old
Daily snapshots are enabled
Last daily snapshot is 23 hours old
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Removing snapshots (incomplete):
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Removing snapshot: 2021-08-31_20-40-56
Deleted directory: /run/timeshift/backup/timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2021-08-31_20-40-56
Removed snapshot: 2021-08-31_20-40-56
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[jmb@n53sv ~]$ sudo timeshift --check
Using system disk as snapshot device for creating snapshots in BTRFS mode

/dev/dm-0 is mounted at: /run/timeshift/backup, options: rw,relatime,compress=zstd:3,ssd,space_cache,autodefrag,subvolid=5,subvol=/

Boot snapshots are enabled
Last boot snapshot is 4 hours old
Daily snapshots are enabled
Last daily snapshot is 23 hours old
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4

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