#1

Less technical users, and even moderately technical users like me until a little while ago may not realize that this is not an “automatic” change and needs manual intervention. Would it be worth mentioning this change and the steps required here in the release announcement?

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#2

The process for this is a bit confusing, but I think I got it (thanks @cmurf, for the help).

  1. (Optional) Clean out any data you don’t need (empty trash etc.). This isn’t required, but will speed things up.

  2. Edit /etc/fstab/ to look something like this:

UUID=123456789 /                       btrfs   subvol=root,compress=zstd:1     0 0
UUID=123456789 /boot                   ext4    defaults        1 2
UUID=123456789          /boot/efi               vfat    umask=0077,shortname=winnt 0 2
UUID=123456789 /home                   btrfs   subvol=home,compress=zstd:1     0 0

Take note especially of compress=zstd:1, the only change you should need to make. Systems not on UEFI should be about the same, just without /boot/efi.

  1. Remount: sudo mount -o remount / /home/

  2. Defrag/Compress.

sudo btrfs filesystem defrag -czstd -rv / /home/$USER

This may take a little while, but not too long, especially on an SSD. You can also do other things while it is going since any new writes should be compressed.

Afterwards you can see the difference it has made with sudo compsize -x / /home/$USER

If this isn’t included in the announcement, I think there should be something about it either in a magazine article or commblog (which I would be willing to write a prettier version for if need be) as it is a very cool feature that many may overlook.

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#3

Sounds great to me. +1 :slightly_smiling_face:

#4

+1
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#5

Ok. I have signed in (username: nickavem) and see the card. I’m going to go ahead and read the rest of the magazine documentation, so I am a little less clumsy in this software and the workflow as a whole.

#6

Alright, this isn’t too tricky. How do you all think the article should be presented? Maybe something like Fedora Workstation 34 Feature Focus: Updated Activities Overview - Fedora Magazine? I mainly wanted to make an informational post, but it would also be cool to go lightly into exactly how this will benefit fedora and how it works.

#7

Something along that article format would work. Your emphasis is on the compression feature so some background on how it works, a discussion of the benefits, and a HOWTO for implementation would be appropriate.

Writing references here

#8

Hi. I just upgraded from F33 and would like to apply this feature, but I belong to the “moderately technical users” realm. Not sure if this is the place to ask for help, so please excuse me if it is not. Of course, I assume full responsibility if anything goes wrong with my system.
I have a main SSD and a second, conventional one I use for backup. This is my current fstab configuration:

UUID=67c57cd3-55c3-49c5-87dc-c7bd40528619 / btrfs subvol=root 0 0
UUID=acd70414-c07c-43c5-b490-9f104c508560 /boot ext4 defaults 1 2
UUID=67c57cd3-55c3-49c5-87dc-c7bd40528619 /home btrfs subvol=home 0 0
LABEL=Backup /mnt/Backup auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0

Should I simply add compress=zstd:1 after subvol=root and subvol=home and follow the rest of the instructions? Second, is there something I can do to the backup disk to achieve the same end? Thanks in advance.

.

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#9

Welcome! This conversation is for the Fedora Magazine. For user help, you should check out Ask Fedora.

#10

@rlengland Am I meant to be able to approve/disapprove comments? I have answers for the pending ones so far.

#11

I changed your role in WordPress from “contributor” to “author”, which should grant you permission to manage pending comments. However, we’ve seen that some authors aren’t able to, so don’t be surprised if that’s not the case. The Editors, in particular the Editor of the Week, should be checking on the comments regularly to moderate held comments.

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#12

I still cannot, but I’ll just wait. I also request that an editor takes a look at this: Correction / edit on btrfs compression article? - #2 by nickavem