Installing Timeshift in Solus

robg

[deleted] So there's no way to get it installed on Solus?

Thanks so much for any help on this

[deleted]

robg No other than building it yourself.

[deleted]

robg Well, you could install it manually - they offer an install script.

So, get the .run installer from here: https://github.com/teejee2008/Timeshift/releases

Then install the dependencies first: sudo eopkg install libgee libvte rsync dcron libjson-glib

Now you can make the installer executable: right-click the downloaded .run file -> Preferences and tick the "run as programm" checkbox

Run the installer from commandline: /Path/to/timeshift-v19.01-amd64.run

That should be it. A menu entry should be there to open it now.

But there is a catch: it won't create regulary snapshots automatically, because it doesn't work with dcron.
So you have to create a systemd service for that:

create a textfile, name it "timeshift.service" with following content:
[Service] ExecStart=/usr/bin/timeshift --check

Create a second textfile, name it "timeshift.timer" with following content:
[Unit]
Description=Run timeshift --check

[Timer]
OnBootSec=10min
OnUnitActiveSec=60min

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target`

copy both files to /usr/lib/systemd/system (-> sudo cp timeshift.service /usr/lib/systemd/system # same for timeshift.timer)

Now enable the timer:
sudo systemctl enable timeshift.timer

That ist what "krieghof" provided in his post on https://dev.getsol.us/T220 at Jun 2 2018

Enjoy!

johano

I’ve had timeshift running for quite a while and have on several occasions used it to restore the root partition without a problem (obviously no guarentees and if you try this, I suggest to backup your partition with fsarchiver or similar if you have any doubt).

It’s not perfect, in that you can’t set automatic backups using cron, but you can make manual backups on demand, and that may be enough for some (it is also possible to incorporate it into a script to be run by systemd and make automatic backups that way, more about that later)

How to:

Download the latest version of timeshift run file from:
https://github.com/teejee2008/timeshift/releases

For example timeshift-v19.01-amd64.run

Install needed dependancies:

sudo eopkg install libgee libvte rsync dcron libjson-glib

Caveat: this worked very well until dcron was removed from the current repo. But you can still download it from here:

https://packages.getsol.us/shannon/d/dcron/dcron-4.5-3-1-x86_64.eopkg

The friday updates seem to automatically remove it, but that can be overcome, by reinstalling it.

Install timeshift

chmod +x timeshift-v19.01-amd64.run
./timeshift-v18.6.1-amd64.run

Now it will install, but show the following error :

Installing dependency packages...
E: Unknown distribution and package manager
E: Dependency packages must be installed manually:
> libgee
> libvte
> json-glib
> rsync

but no need to worry as the dependencies have been installed manually above.

You should now be able to run Timeshift from the menu.

Backups using a script (possible to automate)

You can create a bash script to make a snapshot using the following couple of commands. First install dcron which, takes only seconds, in case it has been removed by the Friday upates and if it’s already installed no harm is done - it will just install again. (To automate creation and deletion of old snapshots you can write a script and run it using a systemd timer) :

# make sure dcron is installed – there are probably other ways to do it – but this is simple
eopkg install /wherever-you-keep-it/dcron-4.5-3-1-x86_64.eopkg
# basic command to created a snapshot, you can add a comment etc. 
# Run timeshift --help in your terminal to get other options
timeshift --create

Fixing the Missing Icon

If you want to give the menu launcher a suitable icon, edit:
/usr/share/applications/timeshift-gtk.desktop
and in the line:
Icon=timeshift
change it to a path containing the icon you wish to use

To Uninstall timeshift

Run the following command in a terminal window:
sudo timeshift-uninstall
****

[deleted]

johano hiya, when i run timeshift-uninstall it says it was uninstalled successfully but still i can run timeshift - any ideas on how to completetly remove it?

algent

johano Tried it myselt and stuck on dcron thing. Thank you for providing the link to donwload it.

robg

Thank you guys so much I will take a look at all the suggestions and see what I can make of it.....

johano

[deleted] And possibly remove the dependencies, presuming they are no longer required by anything other

sudo eopkg remove libgee libvte rsync dcron libjson-glib

dbarron

Note the files installed and manually 'rm' it ? (not a good solution, but maybe necessary when you install things not in the repository).

kyrios

Just a small parenthesis: in case some of you are just looking for a backup tool with a graphical interface, Vorta has been packaged and should hopefully be available soon. Vorta is a GUI for BorgBackup.

johano

kyrios Just had a look at Vorta - it seems very interesting and likely will be very useful. I look forward to trying it on its arrival in the repo. Thanks for pointing it out, I was unaware of it. Since I started with Solus, I've been using borg, instead of Backintime, to backup home (automated via a systemd timer and a script).

I find Timeshift does excel at snapshot and restoration of the system partition - with the greatest of ease - and while not in the curated Solus repo, up to now I've found it has not failed or caused any issue.

[deleted]

kyrios not sure if this is the right place to ask but here goes: when you guys say something is packaged do you mean by Solus crew? Which brings me to the mentioning of "next sync" what does that mean, from where/who/what to where/who/what??

olivir

kyrios I use DejaDup to backup my work from my Desktop machine to a NAS. Is there any advantage to migrate to Vorta and Borg ? I suppose deduplication is the big difference.

yursan9

[deleted] It can be packaged by Solus Core Team or by community member that contributed to packaging application for Solus. Solus have two channel for packages distribution, Unstable and Stable. All new packages should go to unstable for testing. Every friday Solus will sync the stable channel with the unstable. Then all the new packages or packages update will be available to user in stable channel.

[deleted]

yursan9 Aah, thanks man, appreciate it!

johano

olivir I like that with borg you can mount the backup repo and browse the files and copy what you need to wherever you want. The last time I tried Dejá Dup - there was no way browse the backup archive - I don't know if that's still the case?
borg does handle use of space economically (deja Dup also attempts to minimise space used).

Essentially borg boils down to creating a backup repository; creating the backup; and later you can mount the backup repo to retrieve whatever content you want and unmount the repo when done; but it takes some investigation time to get started. Looks like Vorta may make it far simpler to get going.

[deleted]

johano i tried Deja earlier today and it was as you said: couldnt extract a single file but rather had to restore the entire folder to a location of choice and then you could extract whatever. In short a no thanks from me 🙂 Looking forward to giving Vorta a try!

[deleted]

https://www.linuxuprising.com/2019/02/securely-and-efficiently-backup-data-on.html

Are we there yet? 😅

olivir

Oh great ! 👍

Backup profiles. These can be used to backup different sources to different destinations, using the same SSH keys. For example, this allows backing up some important files to a remote server, while doing a full backup to a local storage device.

Justin

algent Where did you get stuck? Is there an error message?

algent

Justin After installed dcrone is working fine.

algent

Justin The only boring thing that I have noticed is that I have to reinstall manually dcron-4.5-3-1-x86_64.eopkg after every update to make Timeshift to work. I don't know why it get uninstalled.