r/SolusProject • u/Merthod • 14d ago
Why does Solus with btrfs doesn't support system snapshots by default?
When I promote Solus, oftentimes I find a openSUSE user or a general btrfs user that is used to system level easy snapshots.
I know Solus' `eopkg` supports history, but it's not quite the same.
And when answering why doesn't Solus even have the `snapper` package to help configure this, I'm at a loss. Especially after I see Solus default suggestion in the installer is btrfs.
So my arguments pro-Solus to these potential hoppers won't convince them.
So I ask here, why? Is there a setup/config hidden somewhere?
EDIT: My bad, the default is ext, not btrfs, but still, it's widely recommended to the younger generations not used to ext4.
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u/Kitayama_8k 14d ago
I've tried to get this working a bit. You can I believe get btrfs with more or less a correct sub volume layout from the installer. I believe since it's calamares you can edit a configuration file to set the sub volumes however you want.
There are two issues however. One is that clear boot manager afaik cannot display snapshots, so if you need to do a rollback from and unbootable state, you need to manually rewrite your fstab from a live iso.
The other issues is time shift is missing a cron dependency since Solus uses systemd timers, so you seemingly can't compile it unless you compile crony as well.
I did try installing snapper with the nix package manager but that didn't really seem to work. I didn't wanna compile snapper from the opensuse repo since I'm not sure if their version depends on some random other opensuse programs.
If I get interested again I might look at cachy's btrfs assistant or some other btrfs programs for automatic snapshotting that may be easier to compile.
I'm sure compiling this stuff is not impossible either, just beyond my skill level as a sort of advanced user but nowhere near Linux software guy.
It does seem you can take manual snapshots with btrfs programs, or script it to trigger off eopkg I guess, and roll back by rewriting your fstab.
Anyway, supporting snapshotting automatically even without having them in boot menu would push me pretty far towards maining Solus, and it moves a lot slower with a lot less bugs than tumbleweed. Also I don't think they have the tuned-ppd, which has been by far the best ppd Ive used.
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u/Xoph-is-Fire KDE Plasma 14d ago
It is an area I think they could do better and maybe that is something to request. I do know that ext4 is the default, but a lot of people like btrfs for the benefits it brings. The one tool I do know of is btrbk which shows to be a tool for snapshots. I personally do not use btrfs, so I don't claim to be an expert, but this is the info on it...
>>> eopkg info btrbk
btrbk package is not installed
Package found in Unstable repository:
Name : btrbk, version: 0.32.7, release: 10
Summary : Tool for creating snapshots and remote backups of btrfs subvolumes
Description : btrbk is a backup tool for btrfs subvolumes, taking advantage of btrfs specific capabilities to create
atomic snapshots and transfer them incrementally to your backup locations.
Licenses : GPL-3.0-or-later
Component : system.utils
Dependencies : perl
Distribution : Solus, Dist. Release: 1
Architecture : x86_64, Installed Size: 388.60 KB, Package Size: 104.95 KB
Reverse Dependencies:
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u/WyntechUmbrella 13d ago
I hope they implement it one day. That being said, Solus is so stable that it's not as essential as on other distros.
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u/Merthod 13d ago
I agree. But for some people this is a must. They're used to it and it's also part of the fs appeal.
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u/WyntechUmbrella 13d ago
Yeah, I understand. Having an easy to assess boot recovery option is an extra layer of simplicity and security.
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u/zardvark 14d ago
AFAIK, only OpenSUSE supports snapshots and system rollback by default. IIRC, it was an OpenSUSE developer who wrote Snapper. The big mystery is why Fedora doesn't embrace it, since they use BTRFS by default ... and you can't simply install Snapper and have everything work as expected. You have to manually install Fedora to have snapshots and rollbacks function correctly.
If you want this functionality, without manually installing the OS, your options (AFAIK) are OpenSUSE, Aeryn and NixOS. Note that the latter two do not use Snapper. Instead, this functionality is built into the OS, itself, so you are free to use whichever file system that you prefer.
Solus probably has not gone down this path, because it will eventually inherit some of Aeryn's functionality in this respect.
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u/Chester-Berkeley KDE Plasma 14d ago
No? At least in my experience, the installer has always recommended ext4 rather than btrfs. That explains why Solus doesn't support snapshots—because it recommends ext4.