I’m attempting a new install. I want to use btrfs with swapfile.
Do I need to disable compression on my swap subvolume?
Is there anything else I should keep in mind for fstab if I want to, say, not keep track of my Downloads folder when snapshotting?
Here is my fstab:
LABEL=arch@btrfs / btrfs rw,relatime,discard=async,space_cache=v2,subvolid=256,subvol=>
LABEL=arch@btrfs /home btrfs rw,relatime,discard=async,space_cache=v2,subvolid=257,subvol=>
LABEL=arch@btrfs /var/cache/pacman/pkg btrfs rw,relatime,discard=async,space_cache=v2,subvolid=259>
LABEL=arch@btrfs /var/log btrfs rw,relatime,discard=async,space_cache=v2,subvolid=258,subvol=>
LABEL=arch@btrfs /.snapshots btrfs rw,relatime,discard=async,space_cache=v2,subvolid=260,subvol=>
LABEL=arch@btrfs /swap btrfs rw,relatime,discard=async,space_cache=v2,subvolid=263,subvol=>
LABEL=efi@fat32 /efi vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=asci>
/swap/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0
Why?
As swap is recommended just in case all RAM is maxed it’s better to have a swap partition as swap files have certain limitations when in combined use with BTRFS:
here’s the link for more info: https://man.archlinux.org/man/btrfs.5#SWAPFILE_SUPPORT
after switching to a swap partition with BTRFS I’ve experienced no issues for a user configuration
Make a subvolume only for the swapfile.
This is true for all files. Is it a bigger problem for swap?
This one I can’t refute. How long ago did you have these issues?
doesn’t this kinda defeat the purpose/benefits of using a swapfile?
specificly swapfiles yes, for swap partitions nope
Dec 2022, was still using and testing with swapfiles then and said fuck it as it caused too much problems.
I can’t rule out user error till I retest and strictly “follow the guide to the T” as I made modifications while following the same Arch guide for swapfile with BTRFS
edit:
also for clarification, I’m still not sure which one is optimal/best as I initially thought that using swapfile was forward thinking for the future, I’m using and recommending swap partitions as it seems to be the easiest to implement once and use continuously without any problems atm.