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
  • IllecorsEnglish
    13•11 months ago

    Do I need to disable compression on my swap subvolume?

    https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Btrfs#Swap_file

    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?

    Just create a separate subvolume for it. Snapshots do not work recursively, so it will be left alone.

    Mount options also only take effect on the first mount of the device. Since it looks like you only have 1 btrfs device - only / needs the options, really.

    • ActualOPEnglish
      5•11 months ago

      Mount options also only take effect on the first mount of the device. Since it looks like you only have 1 btrfs device - only / needs the options, really.

      I didn’t know this. Thanks!

      • IllecorsEnglish
        3•11 months ago

        Glad I could help! Just to make things a bit clearer - this is a btrfs thing. Other FSes behave differently.