I think if we really want to advocate for btrfs, we also should provide the
tools to take full advantage of it. I've been using btrfs since it was
offered as an option on Fedora. On Ubuntu, there is a tool "snapper" to
help manage snapshots. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get this setup on
Fedora. A tool like this would really enhance the btrfs experience, I
believe.
It's been a while, but I think the reason I didn't get snapper running on my
system is that the arrangement of btrfs subvolumes didn't match the default
ubuntu used. I have 2 subvolumes, 1 for root and 1 for home.
I think it's a great idea and if it's possible to adapt Ubuntu's snapper or OpenSUSE's solution
(afaik, they have it as a feature within YaST2 and snapshots are taken prior to each update).
that would make our lives easier. A 1-click GNOME3 integration (through Files, for instance?)
would be the icing on the cake.
A primary use of snapshots would be to snapshot just before system update,
so update could easily be rolled back. This could also be helpful for large
updates within the user directory, for example, using pip to update
packages.
As mentioned above, the way OpenSUSE does it. However, I agree that snapshots are
more useful when taken intentionally. On updates, a single automatic corrupted snapshot can
potentially hose the entire snapshotted volume. Also, if your system is almost broken after the change,
no snapshot will help.
Best,
Andy