Timeshift is reporting an error, saying I don't have an Ubuntu subvolume layout, but my layout seems fine

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1 
sudo timeshift --check
Using system disk as snapshot device for creating snapshots in BTRFS mode
Mounted '/dev/sda2' at '/run/timeshift/3439/backup'
E: The system partition has an unsupported subvolume layout. Only ubuntu-type layouts with @ and @home subvolumes are currently supported.

Application will exit.

sudo btrfs subvolume list /
ID 256 gen 245703 top level 5 path @
ID 257 gen 245703 top level 5 path @home
ID 258 gen 245698 top level 5 path @cache
ID 259 gen 245703 top level 5 path @log

sudo btrfs subvolume get-default
ID 5 (FS_TREE)

cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a device; this may
# be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices that works even if
# disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system>             <mount point>  <type>  <options>  <dump>  <pass>
PARTLABEL=RootFS /              btrfs   subvol=/@,discard=async,space_cache=v2,ssd,compress=zstd 0 0
PARTLABEL=RootFS /home          btrfs   subvol=/@home,discard=async,space_cache=v2,ssd,compress=zstd 0 0
PARTLABEL=RootFS /var/cache     btrfs   subvol=/@cache,discard=async,space_cache=v2,ssd,compress=zstd 0 0
PARTLABEL=RootFS /var/log       btrfs   subvol=/@log,discard=async,space_cache=v2,ssd,compress=zstd 0 0

# wxedge
PARTLABEL=wxedge        /wxedge_storage         xfs   defaults  0       0

I don’t understand why this is happening.

2

tried doing exactly what it implies? remove cache and log

3

What if you rewrite it with UUID instead of PARTLABEL and restart it?
I have never used PARTLABEL , with timeshift.

in my case 
UUID=4d6f-83d4-eca5ddffa /              btrfs   subvol=/@,defaults,discard=async,ssd 0 0
UUID=4d6f-83d4-eca5ddffa /var/cache     btrfs   subvol=/@cache,defaults,discard=async,ssd 0 0
UUID=4d6f-83d4-eca5ddffa /var/log       btrfs   subvol=/@log,defaults,discard=async,ssd 0 0
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4

I have heard of snapper as the possibly even better alternative to timeshift when it comes to BTRFS
and this might not have this … limitation.
But I don’t use BTRFS and never have - I have zero experience with it.
But perhaps you like this alternative method to dealing with snapshots or didn’t even know about it.

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5

Snapper can work with any btrfs-layout

That is one of the reasons i do prefer it.

my layout

ID 258 gen 954842 top level 5 path @home
ID 287 gen 725284 top level 258 path @home/.snapshots
ID 3648 gen 954762 top level 5 path @snapshots
ID 4455 gen 954842 top level 5 path @nosnap
ID 5719 gen 954762 top level 5 path @home.snapshots
ID 36033 gen 954842 top level 5 path @

But you need to learn a little to use snapper.

:footprints:

6

And this is exactly the problem! It’s almost unbelievable, but Timeshift doesn’t support PARTLABEL. Is that a bug?

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8

Snapper’s rollbacks weren’t the best the last time I used it, and its snapshot listing was weirdly slow. I definitely used Snapper back when I had openSUSE.

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I don’t know if it’s a bug or not. I’m not sure if it should be called a bug.

Currently, timeshift is managed by the LinuxMint Team, so you might want to ask on github.

This is my personal impression. LinuxMINT has a small team, and I get the impression that they’re quite busy. When I come across something that’s been missed, I worry about where it’s going.

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