mkinitcpio-btrfs

This hook provides advanced support for single and multi device btrfs partitions, including rollback operations at boot time.

How to Setup:

Use the official installation guide as reference. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Official_Arch_Linux_Install_Guide

Before you start your installation update btrfs-progs and install git.

$ pacman -Sy btrfs-progs git

Partition your drive as you prefer and use mkfs.btrfs to create your root partition. Setting up RAID 1 (or higher) is recommended for btrfs selfhealing features. If you don't have two drives, setup two partitions of the same size on one drive. https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/UseCases#RAID

$ mkfs.btrfs [YOUR_ROOT_PARTITION]

Mount your root partition on /mnt (don't use subvol/subvolid options).

$ mount [YOUR_ROOT_PARTITION] /mnt

Prepare your root partition for rollback support: First clone the btrfs root to an active subvolume.

$ cd /mnt
$ btrfs subvolume snapshot . __active

Then make the new active subvolume mounted by default.

$ btrfs subvolume list .
ID 256 gen 98 top level 5 path __active
$ btrfs subvolume set-default 256 .

And create a subfolder to hold the future snapshots.

$ mkdir __snapshot

You can also use different subvolume and folder names and specify them in /etc/default/btrfs_advanced later.

Remount your root partition (don't use subvol/subvolid options).

$ cd
$ umount /mnt
$ mount [YOUR_ROOT_PARTITION] /mnt

Proceed with bootstrap. Add dependencies of mkinitcpio-btrfs too.

$ pacstrap /mnt base base-devel btrfs-progs kexec-tools [PREFERED_BOOTLOADER]

Clone mkinitcpio-btrfs to your new root.

$ cd /mnt/root
$ git clone https://github.com/xtfxme/mkinitcpio-btrfs

Create your /etc/fstab and chroot into your installation.

$ genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
$ arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

Create a place where you mount the btrfs root to create snapshots later.

$ mkdir /var/lib/btrfs

Add an additional line to /etc/fstab for it. Here you'll need the subvolid=0 option to mount the real root.

[YOUR_ROOT_PARTITION]    /var/lib/btrfs    rw,relatime,space_cache,subvolid=0    0 0

Follow the official installation guide until you need to edit mkinitcpio.conf. Before doing that, install mkinitcpio-btrfs.

$ cd /root/mkinitcpio-btrfs
$ makepkg -i

Add btrfs_advanced to your HOOKS variable.

$ vi /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

Modify /etc/default/btrfs_advanced to your needs.

$ vi /etc/default/btrfs_advanced

Generate your initial RAM disk.

$ mkinitcpio -p linux

Install your bootloader and reboot.

Note: In multi device RAID setups, install your bootloader to multible drives too.

Usage Hints:

Create a snapshot of your root filesystem.

$ cd /var/lib/btrfs
$ sudo btrfs subvolume snapshot __active __snapshot/[snapshot name]

Use "btrfs scrub" for periodic online filesystem checks.

$ sudo btrfs scrub start /
$ sudo btrfs scrub status /

If you use a multi device RAID setup, make sure you rebalance after system upgrades, to prevent kernel panic on device failure.

$ sudo btrfs balance /