Testing release for BTRFS/Snapshots feature

Testing release for BTRFS/Snapshots feature

[Stefan Schantl]

Hello list followers,

a lot of time has been passed since the initial support for BTRFS has
been introduced in IPFire. Sadly the further development process has
been slowed down significantly - mainly because of personal reasons and
as a result of them, the lack of spare time on my side.

All the more I'm very happy to announce the next milestone on this list
and share the current development state. The roadmap on our wiki page
can be found here: https://www.ipfire.org/docs/roadmap/btrfs

The code to take snapshots, manage them, boot into a certain snapshot
or to restore them finally has been arrived. All these actions easily
can be accessed from the CGI page for backups on the IPFire WUI. On
this page a new section called "Snapshots" will be displayed in case
BTRFS has been chosen during the install process of IPFire.

The page layout and style is not final yet, but everything is expected
to work properly. In case you have any ideas how to improve the look
and feel of the CGI page please provide some feedback here.

The grub boot menu automatically will be extended when the first
snapshot has been created with an additional entry to access and boot
into a select-able snapshot in case the system broke or for any other
testing purposes.

I've also extend the code of the pakfire package manager to create a
snapshot before installing a core update.

To summarize the above the snapshot feature would be a big step
forward, because it a allows anybody to go back if some unexpected
error occur after an update, a testing update breaks anything, for
hunting when a certain bug has been seen for the first time, etc...

To took the last remaining steps and get the feature into the
distribution some more testing and feedback is required. Therefore I've
backed and uploaded an ISO image for all who are interested and want to
join testing.

Sadly IPFire has to be re-installed with BTRFS because there is no way
to migrate an existing installation to a different file system.

The current (and may later) images can be found here: 

https://people.ipfire.org/~stevee/BTRFS/

According to testing and feedback there are some additional questions
which appeared during development and needs some attention:

* Should BTRFS become the default selected file system during
installation? (At the moment this is ext4)

* Should the pre-generated images use BTRFS? (At the moment they are
also ext4)

* Do we want an automatic snapshot for each single core update, or do
we want a single one in case multiple core updates will be installed in
one go? (Currently I've implemented a snapshot for each single update)

* Maybe I missed something - feel free to ask any questions or share
your opinions here.

A big thanks in advance to anyone who wants to contribute and helps to
finalize this amazing feature.

Best regards,

-Stefan

Re: Testing release for BTRFS/Snapshots feature

[Adolf Belka]

Hi Stefan,

On 29/04/2026 19:25, Stefan Schantl wrote:
> Hello list followers,
> 
> a lot of time has been passed since the initial support for BTRFS has
> been introduced in IPFire. Sadly the further development process has
> been slowed down significantly - mainly because of personal reasons and
> as a result of them, the lack of spare time on my side.
> 
> All the more I'm very happy to announce the next milestone on this list
> and share the current development state. The roadmap on our wiki page
> can be found here: https://www.ipfire.org/docs/roadmap/btrfs
> 
> The code to take snapshots, manage them, boot into a certain snapshot
> or to restore them finally has been arrived. All these actions easily
> can be accessed from the CGI page for backups on the IPFire WUI. On
> this page a new section called "Snapshots" will be displayed in case
> BTRFS has been chosen during the install process of IPFire.
> 
> The page layout and style is not final yet, but everything is expected
> to work properly. In case you have any ideas how to improve the look
> and feel of the CGI page please provide some feedback here.
> 
> The grub boot menu automatically will be extended when the first
> snapshot has been created with an additional entry to access and boot
> into a select-able snapshot in case the system broke or for any other
> testing purposes.
> 
> I've also extend the code of the pakfire package manager to create a
> snapshot before installing a core update.
> 
> To summarize the above the snapshot feature would be a big step
> forward, because it a allows anybody to go back if some unexpected
> error occur after an update, a testing update breaks anything, for
> hunting when a certain bug has been seen for the first time, etc...
> 
> To took the last remaining steps and get the feature into the
> distribution some more testing and feedback is required. Therefore I've
> backed and uploaded an ISO image for all who are interested and want to
> join testing.
> 
> Sadly IPFire has to be re-installed with BTRFS because there is no way
> to migrate an existing installation to a different file system.

IPFire has to be installed from fresh to get the btrfs filesystem but can you confirm that then you can do a restore from an IPFire backup from an ext4 filesystem to get all settings, without any issues due to the filesystem.

My understanding is that bis the case but I would just like to have it confirmed.

Regards,

Adolf.

> 
> The current (and may later) images can be found here:
> 
> https://people.ipfire.org/~stevee/BTRFS/
> 
> According to testing and feedback there are some additional questions
> which appeared during development and needs some attention:
> 
> * Should BTRFS become the default selected file system during
> installation? (At the moment this is ext4)
> 
> * Should the pre-generated images use BTRFS? (At the moment they are
> also ext4)
> 
> * Do we want an automatic snapshot for each single core update, or do
> we want a single one in case multiple core updates will be installed in
> one go? (Currently I've implemented a snapshot for each single update)
> 
> * Maybe I missed something - feel free to ask any questions or share
> your opinions here.
> 
> A big thanks in advance to anyone who wants to contribute and helps to
> finalize this amazing feature.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> -Stefan
> 

Re: Testing release for BTRFS/Snapshots feature

[Stefan Schantl]

Hello Adolf,

thanks for joining the conversation.
> Hi Stefan,
> 
> On 29/04/2026 19:25, Stefan Schantl wrote:
> > Hello list followers,
> > 
> > a lot of time has been passed since the initial support for BTRFS
> > has
> > been introduced in IPFire. Sadly the further development process
> > has
> > been slowed down significantly - mainly because of personal reasons
> > and
> > as a result of them, the lack of spare time on my side.
> > 
> > All the more I'm very happy to announce the next milestone on this
> > list
> > and share the current development state. The roadmap on our wiki
> > page
> > can be found here: https://www.ipfire.org/docs/roadmap/btrfs
> > 
> > The code to take snapshots, manage them, boot into a certain
> > snapshot
> > or to restore them finally has been arrived. All these actions
> > easily
> > can be accessed from the CGI page for backups on the IPFire WUI. On
> > this page a new section called "Snapshots" will be displayed in
> > case
> > BTRFS has been chosen during the install process of IPFire.
> > 
> > The page layout and style is not final yet, but everything is
> > expected
> > to work properly. In case you have any ideas how to improve the
> > look
> > and feel of the CGI page please provide some feedback here.
> > 
> > The grub boot menu automatically will be extended when the first
> > snapshot has been created with an additional entry to access and
> > boot
> > into a select-able snapshot in case the system broke or for any
> > other
> > testing purposes.
> > 
> > I've also extend the code of the pakfire package manager to create
> > a
> > snapshot before installing a core update.
> > 
> > To summarize the above the snapshot feature would be a big step
> > forward, because it a allows anybody to go back if some unexpected
> > error occur after an update, a testing update breaks anything, for
> > hunting when a certain bug has been seen for the first time, etc...
> > 
> > To took the last remaining steps and get the feature into the
> > distribution some more testing and feedback is required. Therefore
> > I've
> > backed and uploaded an ISO image for all who are interested and
> > want to
> > join testing.
> > 
> > Sadly IPFire has to be re-installed with BTRFS because there is no
> > way
> > to migrate an existing installation to a different file system.
> 
> IPFire has to be installed from fresh to get the btrfs filesystem but
> can you confirm that then you can do a restore from an IPFire backup
> from an ext4 filesystem to get all settings, without any issues due
> to the filesystem.
> 
> My understanding is that bis the case but I would just like to have
> it confirmed.

Yes indeed, it should be possible to restore a backup which has been
taken on a different filesystem. I did not tested this yet, but there
shouldn't be any issues to be expected.

Thanks for the hint, we defenitely should drop a few lines about this
in the wiki and/or release notes when we are in a release stage.

Best regards,

-Stefan
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Adolf.
> 
> > 
> > The current (and may later) images can be found here:
> > 
> > https://people.ipfire.org/~stevee/BTRFS/
> > 
> > According to testing and feedback there are some additional
> > questions
> > which appeared during development and needs some attention:
> > 
> > * Should BTRFS become the default selected file system during
> > installation? (At the moment this is ext4)
> > 
> > * Should the pre-generated images use BTRFS? (At the moment they
> > are
> > also ext4)
> > 
> > * Do we want an automatic snapshot for each single core update, or
> > do
> > we want a single one in case multiple core updates will be
> > installed in
> > one go? (Currently I've implemented a snapshot for each single
> > update)
> > 
> > * Maybe I missed something - feel free to ask any questions or
> > share
> > your opinions here.
> > 
> > A big thanks in advance to anyone who wants to contribute and helps
> > to
> > finalize this amazing feature.
> > 
> > Best regards,
> > 
> > -Stefan
> > 
> 

Re: Testing release for BTRFS/Snapshots feature

[Adolf Belka]

Hi Stefan,

Sorry for the delay but other things got in the way.


On 29/04/2026 20:53, Stefan Schantl wrote:
> Hello Adolf,
> 
> thanks for joining the conversation.
>> Hi Stefan,
>>
>> On 29/04/2026 19:25, Stefan Schantl wrote:
>>> Hello list followers,
>>>
>>> a lot of time has been passed since the initial support for BTRFS
>>> has
>>> been introduced in IPFire. Sadly the further development process
>>> has
>>> been slowed down significantly - mainly because of personal reasons
>>> and
>>> as a result of them, the lack of spare time on my side.
>>>
>>> All the more I'm very happy to announce the next milestone on this
>>> list
>>> and share the current development state. The roadmap on our wiki
>>> page
>>> can be found here: https://www.ipfire.org/docs/roadmap/btrfs
>>>
>>> The code to take snapshots, manage them, boot into a certain
>>> snapshot
>>> or to restore them finally has been arrived. All these actions
>>> easily
>>> can be accessed from the CGI page for backups on the IPFire WUI. On
>>> this page a new section called "Snapshots" will be displayed in
>>> case
>>> BTRFS has been chosen during the install process of IPFire.
>>>
>>> The page layout and style is not final yet, but everything is
>>> expected
>>> to work properly. In case you have any ideas how to improve the
>>> look
>>> and feel of the CGI page please provide some feedback here.
>>>
>>> The grub boot menu automatically will be extended when the first
>>> snapshot has been created with an additional entry to access and
>>> boot
>>> into a select-able snapshot in case the system broke or for any
>>> other
>>> testing purposes.
>>>
>>> I've also extend the code of the pakfire package manager to create
>>> a
>>> snapshot before installing a core update.
>>>
>>> To summarize the above the snapshot feature would be a big step
>>> forward, because it a allows anybody to go back if some unexpected
>>> error occur after an update, a testing update breaks anything, for
>>> hunting when a certain bug has been seen for the first time, etc...
>>>
>>> To took the last remaining steps and get the feature into the
>>> distribution some more testing and feedback is required. Therefore
>>> I've
>>> backed and uploaded an ISO image for all who are interested and
>>> want to
>>> join testing.
>>>
>>> Sadly IPFire has to be re-installed with BTRFS because there is no
>>> way
>>> to migrate an existing installation to a different file system.
>>
>> IPFire has to be installed from fresh to get the btrfs filesystem but
>> can you confirm that then you can do a restore from an IPFire backup
>> from an ext4 filesystem to get all settings, without any issues due
>> to the filesystem.
>>
>> My understanding is that bis the case but I would just like to have
>> it confirmed.
> 
> Yes indeed, it should be possible to restore a backup which has been
> taken on a different filesystem. I did not tested this yet, but there
> shouldn't be any issues to be expected.

So the install worked fine and once I found the location of the snapshot section, I was able to take a snapshot of the system as I had installed it.

I then did a restore from one of my backups. That did not go 100% smoothly.

After doing the restore and then doing a reboot, unbound failed to start with the message user unbound can not be found.

I did a fresh install and then checked the /etc/passwd file and it had a user unbound in it.

I checked two of my CU201 systems and neither of them have user unbound.

unbound in my CU201 systems is running with user nobody.

I confirmed that in the btrfs testing release unbound is running with user unbound.

I could not find anything to explain why the user had been changed but if it is required then the restore process will need to add that user otherwise it will be missing after doing a restore, as was the case with my restore attempt.

Regards,

Adolf.

> 
> Thanks for the hint, we defenitely should drop a few lines about this
> in the wiki and/or release notes when we are in a release stage.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> -Stefan
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Adolf.
>>
>>>
>>> The current (and may later) images can be found here:
>>>
>>> https://people.ipfire.org/~stevee/BTRFS/
>>>
>>> According to testing and feedback there are some additional
>>> questions
>>> which appeared during development and needs some attention:
>>>
>>> * Should BTRFS become the default selected file system during
>>> installation? (At the moment this is ext4)
>>>
>>> * Should the pre-generated images use BTRFS? (At the moment they
>>> are
>>> also ext4)
>>>
>>> * Do we want an automatic snapshot for each single core update, or
>>> do
>>> we want a single one in case multiple core updates will be
>>> installed in
>>> one go? (Currently I've implemented a snapshot for each single
>>> update)
>>>
>>> * Maybe I missed something - feel free to ask any questions or
>>> share
>>> your opinions here.
>>>
>>> A big thanks in advance to anyone who wants to contribute and helps
>>> to
>>> finalize this amazing feature.
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>> -Stefan
>>>
>>
>