Short series of articles describing what one can do with BTRFS.
Article Description:
This should be a series of multiple articles that each describe a specific bit about how to work/what to do with BTRFS. In particular, I’d like to touch the following topics (Not necessarily in this strict order):
General explanation of how filesystems work and CoW in particular, plus high-level overview of the features to discuss
Subvolumes - why they exist, how to find them, what to do with them
Transparent file system compression - make your files take less space
Snapshots - Going back in time, making and restoring backups
Qgroups - Restricting how much space parts of your FS are allowed to consume
RAID - Use a single BTRFS filesystem with multiple disks
The idea came to me since in recent times I often find myself being fascinated about BTRFS and what it is capable of, and explaining a lot of what I already know to others. So I’d like to share this with the wider community, if there is interest in this!
Oh and by the way, this will be my first time publishing an Article in the Fedora Magazine. So:
Hello everyone,
I’m Andreas, my username across the internet is hartan. I’ve been using Linux ever since I started studying in my bachelors degree which was around late summer 2016. I began my journey with the obligatory Ubuntu but quickly found I don’t like that. After some terrific experiences with OpenSUSE Tumbleweed I ended up with Fedora and have been happily using it since Fedora 30. Personally I’m quite fond of the the rpm-ostree based editions (Silverblue, IoT, Core OS).
I have a remarkable talent for breaking things, I’ve taught myself how to code and contribute to projects (or well I’m still in the process of that) and am increasingly trying to get a hold in a community of some sort. I have sort of a strong desire to ‘‘prove’’ to people that Linux is more than a Shell for hardcore nerds and I am very passionate about free software.
Hi Andreas. Your article proposals sound good to me. I’ll give my +1 vote for your article(s) about BTRFS. If another editor gives their +1, then you’ll have the go ahead to write about this subject on Fedora Magazine.
One very important note though – the Fedora Project has as one of its four foundations a requirement that we are friendly toward one another and toward other distributions. Please review the Four Foundations of the Fedora Project.
Our stance towards other distributions is even more directly stated in the below excerpt (emphasis added).
We aren’t trying to compete with other distributions for users. We are trying to provide a valuable platform, backed by a strong community, that presents the best in free and open source software. Keep in mind that users of other GNU/Linux distributions have many of the same goals as we do. Different distributions often work together or benefit from one another.
That said, we do want to be the best distribution we can be, and we can draw some distinctions between Fedora and other distributions. When you are out promoting Fedora, try to demonstrate the strengths of Fedora. Show how we are great. Don’t try to play down other distributions. You’re trying to make friends, and taking a negative attitude toward the distribution of the person or people you are talking to won’t make you any friends.
As you work on them, please use the appropriate Pagure issue for communications about the article. This would include any questions you have and the link to the WordPress Preview when it is ready for review.
Here is a link with information on contributing as a writer. It will lead you to the workflow and some tips/suggestionq.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask the editors. We are happy to help.
@hartan I’ve just scheduled #109 from the list of tickets. It is scheduled for 2 Dec.
The first article was well received and I suspect the second will be as well (well written).
Perhaps now would be a good time to select your next topic and commence work. I think this series will be well used.
Something to consider adding might be a discussion of tools like the “btrfsmaintenance” package or any other tools or tool sets that might be helpful in maintenance task, backups, etc.
Hey @rlengland , I wish you a happy new year, too!
In fact I’ve finished the first draft of the next article just today. I’ve written it in Markdown (I find that more convenient to handle) and will insert it into Wordpress in the next few days.
