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How do I Install Ubuntu, using BtrFS and the Server ISO and still be able to use Timeshift?

ng flag
RKillcrazy

To be clear, I'm not trying to install a server; I'm using it to install the base OS and then I install the vanilla gnome desktop package. I use the server ISO because they stopped making the mini ISO after v18.04.

I've been poking at this most of the afternoon in a VM. Steps I currently take:

  1. Run through the server install process...
  2. Create an EFI boot partition
  3. The rest of it gets mounted as root (/) and formatted BtrFS.
  4. Reboot and then install vanilla gnome: sudo apt install vanilla-gnome-desktop
  5. Get around the strange bug when installing the aforementioned package.
  6. Install Timeshift: sudo apt install timeshift

After a reboot, I log in and find that Timeshift nags about not having subvolumes it can use. I poked around the web and found what looked like a simple fix but either I'm missing something or it just doesn't apply to this OS.

Now, I can use the Desktop installation disk and I can do a custom partitioning setup, via the GUI, where I basically do the same thing as above. I create two partitions: one for the EFI boot partition and one formatted BtrFS and set to mount as root. However, I install via the GUI, reboot, install Timeshift and everything is fine. When you look at the drive, all you see are two folders on the root of it: one is @ and the other is @home. Evidently, Timeshift likes that setup and folder structure better. I don't like the default Ubuntu desktop environment and removing it is messy so that's why I like using the server installation media.

So, how does one recreate the process, that's seemingly automagically used by the Desktop version's GUI install process, via the server installation media?

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PonJar avatar Ubuntu
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PonJar

The following is lifted from the teejeetech website.

https://teejeetech.com/timeshift/

Supported System Configurations

BTRFS – OS installed on BTRFS volumes (with or without LUKS)

Only Ubuntu-type layouts with @ and @home subvolumes are supported

@ and @home subvolumes may be on same or different BTRFS volumes

@ may be on BTRFS volume and /home may be mounted on non-BTRFS partition

Other layouts are not supported

That suggests to me that if you simply create those subvolumes you will be good to go. Have a look here: Creating btrfs subvolume like @ or @home

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ng flag
RKillcrazy
Thanks for the intel; I'll have a look and test in a VM.
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ng flag
RKillcrazy
I have come across that post before. I created those folders (@, @home) but I think I needed to move the existing root (/) into the `@` folder. When I logged in, it acted like my profile had never been set up so I think that was something I missed. FSTAB was set to mount `@home` as /home but I never moved my existing profile into the `@home` folder. I'm going to see what I can do in a VM.
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PonJar avatar
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PonJar
This might help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNnfrKa6fLQ
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