[gentoo-user] Re: Suggestions for backup scheme?

[Grant Edwards <grant.b.edwards@gmail.com>]

On 2024-02-06, J. Roeleveld <joost@antarean.org> wrote:
> On Tuesday, February 6, 2024 4:38:11 PM CET Grant Edwards wrote:
>> On 2024-02-05, J. Roeleveld <joost@antarean.org> wrote:
>> > On Wednesday, January 31, 2024 6:56:47 PM CET Rich Freeman wrote:
>> >> On Wed, Jan 31, 2024 at 12:40 PM Thelma <thelma@sys-concept.com> wrote:
>> >> > If zfs file system is superior to ext4 and it seems to it is.
>> >> > Why hasn't it been adopted more widely in Linux?
>> >> 
>> >> The main barrier is that its license isn't GPL-compatible.  It is
>> >> FOSS, but the license was basically designed to keep it from being
>> >> incorporated into the mainline kernel.
>> > 
>> > Which isn't as much of an issue as it sounds. You can still add it
>> > into the initramfs and can easily load the module.
>> 
>> What if you don't use an initrd?
>> 
>> I presume that boot/root on ext4 and home on ZFS would not require an
>> initrd?
>
> Yes, that wouldn't require an initrd. But why would you limit this?

Because I really, really dislike having to use an initrd. That's
probably just an irrational 30 year old prejudice, but over the
decades I've found live to be far simpler and more pleasant without
initrds. Maybe things have improved over the years, but way back when
I did use distros that required initrds, they seem to be a constant,
nagging source of headaches.

> ZFS works best when given the FULL drive.

Where do you put swap?

> For my server, I use "bliss-initramfs" to generate the initramfs and
> have not had any issues with this since I started using ZFS.
>
> Especially the ease of generating snapshots also make it really easy
> to roll back an update if anything went wrong. If your
> root-partition isn't on ZFS, you can't easily roll back.

True. However, I've never adopted the practice of backing up my root
fs (except for a few specific directories like /etc), and haven't ever
really run into situations where I wished I had. It's all stuff that
can easily be reinstalled.

--
Grant