can i delete a snapshot with rm -rf ?

can i delete a snapshot with rm -rf ?

[Bernd Lentes]

Hi,

i'm pretty sure having read that this is possible. And in some scripts i do it this way.
But now i found on the net to not delete a snapshot with rm.

Cab you help me to clarify that ?

Thanks.

Bernd


--
Bernd Lentes
System Administrator
Institute for Metabolism and Cell Death (MCD)
Building 25 - office 122
HelmholtzZentrum München
bernd.lentes@helmholtz-muenchen.de
phone: +49 89 3187 1241
       +49 89 3187 49123
fax:   +49 89 3187 2294
https://www.helmholtz-munich.de/en/mcd


Helmholtz Zentrum München – Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt (GmbH)
Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, D-85764 Neuherberg, https://www.helmholtz-munich.de
Geschäftsführung: Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c. Matthias Tschöp, Daniela Sommer (komm.) | Aufsichtsratsvorsitzende: MinDir’in Prof. Dr. Veronika von Messling
Registergericht: Amtsgericht München HRB 6466 | USt-IdNr. DE 129521671

Re: can i delete a snapshot with rm -rf ?

[Goffredo Baroncelli]

On 06/06/2023 21.34, Bernd Lentes wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> i'm pretty sure having read that this is possible. And in some scripts i do it this way.
> But now i found on the net to not delete a snapshot with rm.
> 
> Cab you help me to clarify that ?

I think that the biggest drawback is that deleting a snapshot with 'rm' is slower because it
has to remove 1 file at time, where doing 'btrfs sub del' can cancel the 'fs tree' in 'one shot'.

Of course it is not so simple because you need to remove all the extents one at time.

But beside the performances, I don't see any drawback.

> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Bernd
> 
> 
> --
> Bernd Lentes
> System Administrator
> Institute for Metabolism and Cell Death (MCD)
> Building 25 - office 122
> HelmholtzZentrum München
> bernd.lentes@helmholtz-muenchen.de
> phone: +49 89 3187 1241
>         +49 89 3187 49123
> fax:   +49 89 3187 2294
> https://www.helmholtz-munich.de/en/mcd
> 
> 
> Helmholtz Zentrum München – Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt (GmbH)
> Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, D-85764 Neuherberg, https://www.helmholtz-munich.de
> Geschäftsführung: Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c. Matthias Tschöp, Daniela Sommer (komm.) | Aufsichtsratsvorsitzende: MinDir’in Prof. Dr. Veronika von Messling
> Registergericht: Amtsgericht München HRB 6466 | USt-IdNr. DE 129521671

-- 
gpg @keyserver.linux.it: Goffredo Baroncelli <kreijackATinwind.it>
Key fingerprint BBF5 1610 0B64 DAC6 5F7D  17B2 0EDA 9B37 8B82 E0B5

Re: can i delete a snapshot with rm -rf ?

[Roman Mamedov]

On Tue, 6 Jun 2023 19:34:36 +0000
Bernd Lentes <bernd.lentes@helmholtz-muenchen.de> wrote:

> i'm pretty sure having read that this is possible. And in some scripts i do it this way.
> But now i found on the net to not delete a snapshot with rm.
> 
> Cab you help me to clarify that ?

Yes you can, but it is not the optimal way.

It would be more time-consuming, and might lead to metadata bloat and
fragmentation, since multiple states of the directory tree over time as the
deletion progresses will need to get recorded and re-recorded in the metadata.

-- 
With respect,
Roman