What is the bare minimum I need to install on EXT4?

fyrstormer

Let's get one thing out of the way at the beginning: I am going to use BTRFS, because I value deduplication, transparent compression, and snapshots. I know about the concerns with reverting a kernel and possibly bricking the filesystem, and I'm not concerned about that, because I don't change kernels for fun anyway. But it's obvious that I can't put everything on BTRFS, because clr-boot-manager that Solus borrowed from Clear Linux before they dumped desktop users (oops!) can't update the kernel if it's stored on BTRFS. So what's the bare minimum that I need to put on EXT4? Is the /boot folder all that needs to reside on EXT4, or are other folders needed too?

craigtoyoracer

A thought to ponder. Solus is a rolling release, every Friday the kernel is updated along with everything else. So what good is a snapshot after an update ?

In like 4 years I have never needed a roll back. It just works. 😁

I also always run /home on a separate drive, backed up and never touched by updates.

WetGeek

craigtoyoracer I also always run /home on a separate drive, backed up and never touched by updates.

Just wondering why you need to run /home on a separate drive? I back it up (to my NAS) before every update, but it's on the same drive as the rest of the system. Apparently I'm missing something, because I don't' see the difference.

fyrstormer

If everything "just works" for you, then you must not do anything experimental in the slightest. Even people I know with decades of Linux experience make stupid mistakes occasionally.

What good is a snapshot after an update? Well, I can roll back stupid user-related mistakes that I might make, or recover previous versions of files that I overwrote by mistake. Scheduled backups cannot provide the same level of protection as a snapshot after every reboot. If you still doubt the benefit of this, stop to consider that all other rolling-release OSes (including Windows and MacOS) support filesystem snapshots by default. I suspect the real reason why Solus doesn't support snapshots in 2021 is because they opted to use a boot manager that never got developed far enough to support more advanced filesystems before it was effectively abandoned by its original creator.

Anyway, there's still the issue of deduplication and transparent compression, which are beneficial even if you never snapshot anything.

So...thanks for not answering my question, I guess.

brent

hint: try a different tack (friendliness). or else your 10 o'clock show will be the same as your 5 o'clock show.

ps--been a tough year for patience, I'm as guilty as anyone, so not throwing stones..

fyrstormer

brent: My short temper is not a result of the past year, it's a result of every time I ask a support question on any Linux forum, the answer I ALWAYS get is "Why are you doing it that way? You should do it the way I prefer instead." That's not bloody helpful. Answer my question or keep scrolling.

Anyway, I noticed that clr-boot-manager on GitHub has recent edits that are supposed to support BTRFS, but that version hasn't been included in Solus (yet, or possibly ever?), and I can't figure out how to compile it myself, so I guess I'm stuck.

Brucehankins

WetGeek it makes your /home extremely portable and distro agnostic. Also backing up to the same drive that your system is installed on leaves you high and dry if you have a drive failure.

craigtoyoracer

WetGeek Well I started this habit when leaving XP on the long road searching for solus 🤣

So my /home is a symlink to multiply drives /doc /music /movies which are backed up to multiply drives. In this new electronic world my documents are to valuable left to chance.

Also not sure if there is a difference with / on a 256 nvme and /home on 1TB nvme but it fells snappier. 🙂

WetGeek

Brucehankins

I think I understand. You apparently have needs that I don't have. I don't need to support different distros. It's been years since I've had any desire to use a distro other than Solus.

And when I mentioned backing up "to my NAS," I was obviously not suggesting that I'd back up to the same drive the system is on. That device is located in a separate part of my home, and accessed via nfs. If I were a commercial enterprise, I'd store multiple generations of backups off-site, but I'm not.

So, our needs are entirely different. I was just curious, and you've answered my question. Thanks!

EDIT: It just occurred to me that you might have thought my NAS was somehow on the same drive as the rest of my system. It's my /home directory that's on the same drive.

niobleoum

keeping all your important files on separate drive is good idea, in case anything go wrong you can ditch entire system and go straight for fresh install without losing anything of value (other than some time for new setup).

brent

fyrstormer My short temper...it's a result of every time I ask a support question on any Linux forum, the answer I ALWAYS get is "Why are you doing it that way? You should do it the way I prefer instead."

People offering Plan B's that work for them, instead of knowing the answer directly, is the nature of the Help Forums beast sometimes--they mean well .. I don't believe you ever got a direct answer about your Ext 4 question.
I did find this: https://discuss.getsol.us/d/2978-installing-solus-on-btrfs
and https://discuss.getsol.us/d/6201-btrfs/2

what goes on ext4 has to go on ext4 without modification is the idea I'm getting, but please read these two threads and see what you think
edit/extra word