Hey @principis , would you like to write a short paragraph or two to introduce this package, what it does, why you want to use it? :)

Sorry, a bit busy. I'll write something tomorrow!

@principis just a reminder in case this dropped off your radar -- Fedora Magazine is looking forward to seeing an article that promotes this new package. :)

Hi! So sorry for the lack of response. I'm quite terrible at writing, so I kept postponing this due to exams, work and other obligations. To be honest, I don't think I'll be able to write anything until probably end of September (more exams and work). I know this seems like a 5 minute task, but it give me stress I don't need right now.

If someone else would like to write something, I'll be happy to proofread it! :)

No problem, I understand the feeling!

Anybody else who wants to write a few paragraphs? :wink:

Since this was opened 7 months ago, I believe it's not very useful as a spotlight. However it can maybe be integrated into the BTRFS series, since btrfs-assistant is an awesome tool for people who don't want to bother learning snapper :)

Since procrastination is fun, here is a concept article for an editor to refine :) (or not, it's fine)

Btrfs Assistant

Btrfs has been the default filesystem for Fedora Workstation since Fedora Linux 33. However, many users are not familiar with Btrfs and the features it has to offer.

This is were Btrfs Assistant comes in. Btrfs Assistant is a GUI management tool to make managing a Btrfs filesystem easier. It offers an easy to read overview of Btrfs metadata, a simple view of subvolumes, a management front-end for Snapper and Btrfs maintenance, and many more.

Installation

Btrfs Assistant is packaged for Fedora and can be easily installed using your favorite software center (Gnome Software, KDE Discover, ...) or you can install it via the terminal:

sudo dnf install btrfs-assistant

Snapper and Btrfs Maintenance should be automatically installed, otherwise you can install them like so:

sudo dnf install snapper btrfsmaintenance

You are now ready to use Btrfs Assistant! When launching it will ask for root permissions. Don't worry, it needs this to interact with Btrfs and configure Snapper and Btrfs Maintenance.

Managing snapshots with Btrfs Assistant

If you haven't already, you can read up on Btrfs Snapshots in the previous article: https://fedoramagazine.org/working-with-btrfs-snapshots/

Managing snapshots manually can be cumbersome. Snapper solves this issue, but can be difficult to setup. Luckily by using Btrfs Assistant, there are no man pages to read, but simple clicks will configure everything you need.

Setting up Snapper

Go to the Snapper Settings tab and click New Config. Provide a config name, for example 'home', and select the Backup path. The Backup path is a Btrfs subvolume, so / and /home should be available by default.

Save the configuration and configure the Snapshot Retention. Don't forget to click save after doing so. Be careful and don't create too many snapshots. They do use disk space and slow down Btrfs.
A practical example configuration can be seen in the screenshot.

Next, configure the systemd unit section:
- Snapper timeline enabled: Enables the snapper-timeline service which creates snapshots at the configured timeline intervals.
- Snapper cleanup enabled: Enables the snapper-cleanup service which deletes old snapshots (by timeline, number or empty)
- Snapper boot enabled: Takes a snapshot of root on every boot.
Click 'Apply systemd changes'.

That's it! Snapper is now setup and will create and delete snapshots

Managing snapshots

The snapper tab shows an overview of all snapshot for the selected Snapper configuration. In the New/Delete tab It is possible to manually add new snapshots, for example before an upgrade, or delete old ones.

Even more useful is the Browse/Restore tab. Here we can browser the state of a snapshot, diff and restore files or restore a complete snapshot.
maybe an example of why this is useful (deleting a NM vpn config...) or show the diff feature?

Conclusion

TODO

I was out of inspiration at this point. :sweat_smile:

@hartan This article on btrfs-assistant might be something to consider for your series, or perhaps a similar article on setting up btrbk walking through setting up a backup to an external drive (?).

Hi everyone,

btrfs-assistant certainly looks like a mighty tool, nice work! I was already planning on adding an article about btrbk after the Btrfs introduction series. I'll consider btrfs-assistant for inclusion and we'll see how my time permits. The concept article is a good foundation already.

In any case I have three more articles about Btrfs "basics" to finish first, so if anyone else wants to flesh this out in the meantime that's fine of course.