If you set up the system like openSUSE then it makes sense snapper would work. I'd look at the openSUSE docs, its not like btrfs is different in Gentoo right? https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:BTRFS#Default_Subvolumes
this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2025
7 points (81.8% liked)
Linux
51161 readers
1838 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Snapper assumes that your system is "formatted with btrfs or some other snapper compatible filesystem". I'm pretty sure that this means that that your root directory is mounted from a btrfs subvolume.
So all you need to do is setup btrfs at install time and then configure Snapper. You should consider mounting /home from its own subvolume. That way you can roll back the system but keep all your files.
There are a lot of other things to consider when setting up btrfs, so make sure you read the docs. (A lot of the config can changed at a later point.)
Can you explain what your end goal and use-case is? I'm confused on why you want both as they are both capable of each doing each other's jobs in different ways.
What do you mean with both?
Well BTRFS can go back to PiT snapshots and run from there, and snapper is an abstraction for BTRFS...so what's your goal?
Like I said in the post. To set it up just like Opensuse Tumbleweed. I find snapper quite easy to work with and use to rollback from those bootable snapshots. Also it making snapshots after updates is quite useful too
Well if it's just a preference thing, there is a Gentoo guide for using it: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Snapper
It describes the locations of what needs access to what in Gentoo to work properly.
I have read that page and this isnt really what i asked. this is about just snapper not how to setup btrfs to get it working as i explained above
I'm not familiar with what Suse is doing, but that doc seems to imply that there is a fundamental difference in the configuration between Gentoo and Suse.
I wonder if there is something in the Suse docs that describes how they get a rollback option into the grub menu.
I agree that the Gentoo wiki pages around btrfs and snapper seem a bit lacking.
Well the Gentoo community felt it was good enough and made the effort to write that doc for you. Unsure what you've asked here.
This seems like one of those questions where the source of truth is telling you it's not going to happen, but you want a world in which it exists and for help in making that happen.
Maybe dig in and learn about snapshots and partitioning.