Bug: Timeshift BTRFS mode fails to recognize standard Fedora Subvolume layout (root/home)

[breuel]

🚨 Bug Report: BTRFS Mode Compatibility Issue

Timeshift Version: 22.11.2 **
Distribution: Fedora Linux 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)
Filesystem: BTRFS
Problem Description:

Timeshift's BTRFS snapshot mode currently strictly relies on the Ubuntu-style BTRFS subvolume layout, which expects subvolumes named @ for the root filesystem (/) and @home for the user home directory (/home).

However, standard Fedora installations (since Fedora 33, including Fedora 43) utilize the native BTRFS layout with the following subvolume names:

• / is mounted from the subvolume named root.
• /home is mounted from the subvolume named home.

When attempting to configure Timeshift on a default Fedora BTRFS system, the BTRFS setup recognizes the partition but fails during the configuration process because the expected @ and @home subvolumes are not found. This effectively renders the BTRFS mode unusable for users running Fedora's default configuration.

💡 Expected Behavior

Timeshift should be able to detect the existing BTRFS subvolumes and allow the user to select root as the root subvolume (/) and home as the home subvolume (/home), or automatically recognize and utilize this standard Fedora layout.

🛠️ Current Workaround (Manual Subvolume Renaming)

The current necessary workaround involves manually renaming the subvolumes via a Live environment and updating the fstab and GRUB configuration, which is a complex process for a system snapshot tool:

1. Rename root to @.
2. Rename home to @home.
3. Update /etc/fstab and run grub2-mkconfig.

This manual intervention should not be required. Please adjust Timeshift to support the standard Fedora BTRFS layout.

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System Information:

• Kernel: 6.17.10-300.fc43.x86_64
• Desktop Environment: KDE Plasma 6.5.3

[ygerlach]

You should have asked your ai to find existing bug reports about this problem instead of letting it writing a new one for you 😆 .

We already have 3 issues open about this problem:
#266, #368, #405

And @fused0 is currently working on something here: #480