The case of kernels dissapearing from GRUB after deleting some timeshift snapshots

Issues & Assistance Newbies
1

Hello, community.

Firstly, I’d like to point out that I’m very grateful to you guys for creating this distro. Garuda has been my daily driver for my development pc for months, and I fell in love with it as much as I fell in love with Linux and Arch.

Having said that, I started noticing that in Dolphin, my root folder and subfolders started having a ‘@’ prefix. I thought that was intended behavior. ‘Just timeshift doing its thing’ I thought. For instance, Dolphin instead of ‘/’, displayed ‘@’. Also @usr, @etc, @bin, and so on.

Continued working as normal for days, until the system update came up. Since I noticed that I was running out of disk space (disk space is an issue for me) I decided to open the Timeshift GUI and deleted the oldest snapshots to regain some space.

The next time I restarted the computer, Grub couldn’t find a kernel anymore. Since I’m used to troubleshooting and reading documentation (I’m a Rails/React dev), I rushed to the BTFRS article on the Arch Wiki, the Timeshift repo, and here the Garuda forums.

In this forum, I found this: 4351 . The accepted answer suggests that:

The issue stems from booting into a snapshot from grub and then restoring a timeshift backup while booted in the snapshot.

But I have never restored any snapshot. This makes me infer that for some reason, the default booting option became a snapshot, not the real Garuda install, and it stayed like that for months until I decided to delete some snapshots to save space causing me to delete part of /.

Since I was in a middle of a project with a tight deadline, I decided to take the hit and just reinstall from scratch (all my code is on Github anyway).

Also, today I started to get the dreaded @'s in Dolphin again in my root folder. Without deleting any snapshot, I restarted and GRUB was working fine, so instead of just selecting ‘Garuda’ I went to advanced options and chose ‘Linux zen’. After booting this way, the @'s disappeared. I restarted again and selected the default ‘Garuda’, and everything works normally.

The reason I’m writing this is to ask if there is a community consensus about this, or if this is a known issue within Timeshift or just to know if there is any correct and safe way to delete timeshift snapshots to save space without breaking the install. Can the @'s be prevented? Maybe this is caused by having more than one kernel?

Thanks a lot, and thanks for creating this distro.

4 Likes
2

I have no idea what may have caused this to occur. When I want to recover space I delete all my timeshift snapshots, then I perform a btrfs balance and reboot. I then create a new snapshot, after the reboot.

Welcome to Garuda.

3 Likes
3

If you don't know what @ is, you don't know what btrfs is.

Timeshift's snapshots are stored in @timeshift-btrfs iirc, so it doesn't bother about the whole filesystem.

If you are seeing subvolumes, you mounted the top-level. If you don't see them, you mounted the proper subvolume.

If you boot into the same installed os, the top-level should not be seen. If it is, then fstab is wrong somewhare.

To know how your partition is mounted, check fstab.

7 Likes
4

Please post:

sudo btrfs subvolume list /

cat /etc/fstab
4 Likes
5

hmm i have same @ for a while but i have think its normal and come from an update . bec i have no problems. but now im curios after reading if my fstab is right .

sudo btrfs subvolume list /
[sudo] Passwort für smoky:
ID 257 gen 126889 top level 5 path @home
ID 258 gen 126863 top level 5 path @root
ID 259 gen 118768 top level 5 path @srv
ID 260 gen 126889 top level 5 path @cache
ID 261 gen 126886 top level 5 path @log
ID 262 gen 126854 top level 5 path @tmp
ID 2291 gen 126886 top level 5 path @
ID 3629 gen 126862 top level 5 path timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2021-07-29_15-29-35/@
ID 3630 gen 126862 top level 5 path timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2021-07-29_15-39-52/@
ID 3631 gen 126052 top level 5 path timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2021-07-29_15-52-33/@
ID 3632 gen 126411 top level 5 path timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2021-07-29_18-59-06/@
ID 3634 gen 126860 top level 5 path timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2021-07-30_08-32-02/@

╭─smoky@smoky in ~ took 2s
╰─λ cat /etc/fstab
File: /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a device; this may
# be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices that works even if
# disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system>             <mount point>  <type>  <options>  <dump>  <pass>
UUID=8FFB-AA6A                            /boot/efi      vfat    umask=0077 0 2
UUID=8e50e065-11b1-4774-8082-1ab1ea33981e /              btrfs   subvol=/@,defaults,noatime,space_cache,autode
frag,compress=zstd 0 1
UUID=8e50e065-11b1-4774-8082-1ab1ea33981e /home          btrfs   subvol=/@home,defaults,noatime,space_cache,au
todefrag,compress=zstd 0 2
UUID=8e50e065-11b1-4774-8082-1ab1ea33981e /root          btrfs   subvol=/@root,defaults,noatime,space_cache,au
todefrag,compress=zstd 0 2
UUID=8e50e065-11b1-4774-8082-1ab1ea33981e /srv           btrfs   subvol=/@srv,defaults,noatime,space_cache,aut
odefrag,compress=zstd 0 2
UUID=8e50e065-11b1-4774-8082-1ab1ea33981e /var/cache     btrfs   subvol=/@cache,defaults,noatime,space_cache,a
utodefrag,compress=zstd 0 2
UUID=8e50e065-11b1-4774-8082-1ab1ea33981e /var/log       btrfs   subvol=/@log,defaults,noatime,space_cache,aut
odefrag,compress=zstd 0 2
UUID=8e50e065-11b1-4774-8082-1ab1ea33981e /var/tmp       btrfs   subvol=/@tmp,defaults,noatime,space_cache,aut
odefrag,compress=zstd 0 2
/dev/disk/by-partlabel/Musik_Bilder_Videos /mnt/Musik_Bilder_Videos auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0
/dev/disk/by-partlabel/Backup_ssd /mnt/Backup_ssd auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0
/dev/disk/by-label/Dropbox /mnt/Dropbox auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0
/dev/disk/by-partlabel/SteamFast /mnt/SteamFast auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0
inxi -Fxxxza 
inxi -Fxxxza
System:    Kernel: 5.13.6-1-cacule-rdb x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0  
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-cacule-rdb root=UUID=8e50e065-11b1-4774-8082-1ab1ea33981e rw  
rootflags=subvol=@ splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0 systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1
loglevel=3
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.22.4 tk: Qt 5.15.2 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux  
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <filter>  
Mobo: ASUSTeK model: ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING v: Rev X.0x serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 2403  
date: 06/16/2021  
Battery:   Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Keyboard K270 serial: <filter> charge: 100% (should be ignored)  
rechargeable: yes status: Discharging  
CPU:       Info: 12-Core model: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 2 family: 17 (23) model-id: 71 (113)  
stepping: 0 microcode: 8701021 cache: L2: 6 MiB  
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 192015  
Speed: 4000 MHz min/max: 2200/4000 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 4000 2: 3999 3: 4001 4: 4000 5: 4000  
6: 4000 7: 3999 8: 3997 9: 4013 10: 4000 11: 4010 12: 4000 13: 3998 14: 4001 15: 4000 16: 4033 17: 4000 18: 4000  
19: 3999 20: 4000 21: 4000 22: 4000 23: 3999 24: 4000  
Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected  
Type: l1tf status: Not affected  
Type: mds status: Not affected  
Type: meltdown status: Not affected  
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp  
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization  
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling  
Type: srbds status: Not affected  
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected  
Graphics:  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 [Radeon RX 5600 OEM/5600 XT / 5700/5700 XT] vendor: ASUSTeK  
driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 0a:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:731f class-ID: 0300  
Device-2: Logitech HD Webcam C510 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-9:7 chip-ID: 046d:081d
class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.12 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: loaded: amdgpu,ati unloaded: modesetting,radeon
alternate: fbdev,vesa display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x2160 s-dpi: 193 s-size: 506x285mm (19.9x11.2") s-diag: 581mm (22.9")
Monitor-1: DisplayPort-0 res: 3840x2160 hz: 60 dpi: 154 size: 632x360mm (24.9x14.2") diag: 727mm (28.6")
OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (NAVI10 DRM 3.41.0 5.13.6-1-cacule-rdb LLVM 12.0.1) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.1.5
direct render: Yes
Audio:     Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 HDMI Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 0a:00.1
chip-ID: 1002:ab38 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
bus-ID: 0c:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: Logitech HD Webcam C510 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-9:7 chip-ID: 046d:081d
class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.13.6-1-cacule-rdb running: yes
Sound Server-2: sndio v: N/A running: no
Sound Server-3: JACK v: 1.9.19 running: no
Sound Server-4: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: yes
Sound Server-5: PipeWire v: 0.3.32 running: yes
Network:   Device-1: Intel Ethernet I225-V vendor: ASUSTeK driver: igc v: kernel port: N/A bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:15f3
class-ID: 0200
IF: enp7s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
IF-ID-1: wg-mullvad state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 6.15 TiB used: 2.34 TiB (38.0%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Corsair model: Corsair MP400 size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: ECFM53.0 temp: 42.9 C scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:4 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB size: 931.51 GiB block-size:
physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B2QEXM7 temp: 50.9 C
scheme: GPT
ID-3: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Crucial model: CT1000MX500SSD1 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 020 scheme: GPT
ID-4: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 QVO 2TB size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q scheme: GPT
ID-5: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q scheme: GPT
ID-6: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 type: USB vendor: Samsung model: Type-C size: 239.02 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 1100 scheme: GPT
SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 930.94 GiB size: 930.94 GiB (100.00%) used: 285.33 GiB (30.6%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
maj-min: 259:2
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 599 MiB size: 597.8 MiB (99.80%) used: 259.9 MiB (43.5%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
maj-min: 259:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 930.94 GiB size: 930.94 GiB (100.00%) used: 285.33 GiB (30.6%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
maj-min: 259:2
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 930.94 GiB size: 930.94 GiB (100.00%) used: 285.33 GiB (30.6%) fs: btrfs
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 930.94 GiB size: 930.94 GiB (100.00%) used: 285.33 GiB (30.6%) fs: btrfs
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 10 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 62.73 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 58.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 57.0 C mem: 62.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 945
Info:      Processes: 509 Uptime: 44m wakeups: 8 Memory: 62.73 GiB used: 8.34 GiB (13.3%) Init: systemd v: 249 tool: systemctl
Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 clang: 12.0.1 Packages: pacman: 2116 lib: 572 Shell: fish v: 3.3.1 default: Bash v: 5.1.8
running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.06
7

Could you post

mount | grep btrfs

?

2 Likes
8

Thank you for reporting this. This is being investigated.

3 Likes
9 
mount | grep btrfs
/dev/nvme0n1p2 on / type btrfs (rw,noatime,compress=zstd:3,ssd,space_cache,autodefrag,subvolid=2291,subvol=/@)
/dev/nvme0n1p2 on /root type btrfs (rw,noatime,compress=zstd:3,ssd,space_cache,autodefrag,subvolid=258,subvol=
/@root)
/dev/nvme0n1p2 on /srv type btrfs (rw,noatime,compress=zstd:3,ssd,space_cache,autodefrag,subvolid=259,subvol=/
@srv)
/dev/nvme0n1p2 on /home type btrfs (rw,noatime,compress=zstd:3,ssd,space_cache,autodefrag,subvolid=257,subvol=
/@home)
/dev/nvme0n1p2 on /var/cache type btrfs (rw,noatime,compress=zstd:3,ssd,space_cache,autodefrag,subvolid=260,su
bvol=/@cache)
/dev/nvme0n1p2 on /var/log type btrfs (rw,noatime,compress=zstd:3,ssd,space_cache,autodefrag,subvolid=261,subv
ol=/@log)
/dev/nvme0n1p2 on /var/tmp type btrfs (rw,noatime,compress=zstd:3,ssd,space_cache,autodefrag,subvolid=262,subv
ol=/@tmp)
/dev/nvme0n1p2 on /run/timeshift/backup type btrfs (rw,relatime,compress=zstd:3,ssd,space_cache,autodefrag,sub
volid=5,subvol=/)
10

Here is the problem. Don’t know what have caused this :thinking:

1 Like
12

I have now delete all snapshots then full balance then i restart .. and now the @ is gone . but when i make a new snapshot its again there .. :thinking:

13

Are you also facing this issue now?

2 Likes
14

no all working fine .. both kernel that i installed are on grub there .. no errors nothing ... my system runs perfect as i know .
he have linux zen as i read i have Linux-cacule-rdb ..
but i will install zen kernel now only to test if gives then an error . only to be sure its not a kernel problem

2 Likes
16

Randomly one day when I was working I faced this same issue. The @ prefixed ones were visible in dolphin. I deleted some of the snapshots (which were giving error in timeshift due to directory not empty thing) and restarted pc and it was gone.

2 Likes
17

hmm its really confusing now .. i installed zen reboot . no grub errors.
but now with zen kernel it not showing @
with zen kernel :

sudo btrfs subvolume get-default /
[sudo] Passwort für smoky:
ID 5 (FS_TREE)

i reboot to my linux cacule-rdb and what should i say now there also no @
i removed zen kernel reboot and still the @ is gone
i don´t no what it cause or what it repair im corious

2 Likes
18

I'm afraid if "@" problem starts again after taking a snapshot.

19

hmm ok here we go again ..
i make system update a snapshot was made and no @ comes
but then i want look at the timeshift tool (welcome app)
without make anything only start the app then look back and the @ is there .
so now im thinking if the app cause the problem ?

1 Like
20

Now could you check this again (while seeing the "@"s)?

21

sure .. its look same

sudo btrfs subvolume get-default /
[sudo] Passwort für smoky:
ID 5 (FS_TREE)
22

ok now i reboot
@ is gone again
then i open again the timeshift app
and the @ is there
but after reboot all ok
maybee its really a problem with the app ??

2 Likes
23

How do you perform a btrfs balance?