snapper

Filesystem snapshot management for Btrfs

TLDR

List snapshot configurations

$ snapper list-configs

Create a configuration

$ snapper -c [config] create-config [path/to/directory]

Create a snapshot with description

$ snapper -c [config] create -d "[description]"

List snapshots for a config

$ snapper -c [config] list

Delete a snapshot

$ snapper -c [config] delete [snapshot_number]

Delete a range of snapshots

$ snapper -c [config] delete [snapshot1]-[snapshot2]

Show differences between snapshots

$ snapper -c [config] status [snapshot1]..[snapshot2]

Rollback to a snapshot

$ snapper -c [config] rollback [snapshot_number]

SYNOPSIS

snapper [-c config] command [OPTIONS]

snapper is a filesystem snapshot management tool primarily used with Btrfs. It creates, compares, and manages snapshots, enabling system rollback and file recovery. Snapper supports automatic snapshot timelines with configurable retention policies.
Each configuration manages snapshots for a specific subvolume or logical volume. Snapshots can be created manually or automatically before/after system changes. The cleanup algorithms automatically remove old snapshots based on age or count limits.

PARAMETERS

-c, --config name

Use specified configuration

list-configs

List all configurations

create-config path

Create new configuration for subvolume

delete-config

Delete a configuration

create

Create a new snapshot

delete number

Delete snapshot(s)

list

List snapshots

status num1..num2

Show changes between snapshots

diff num1..num2

Show file differences

undochange num1..num2 files

Undo changes between snapshots

rollback [number]

Rollback system to snapshot

cleanup algorithm

Run cleanup algorithm (number, timeline, empty-pre-post)

setup-quota

Set up quota (btrfs only)

-d, --description text

Snapshot description

-t, --type type

Snapshot type (single, pre, post)

-u, --userdata key=value

Set snapshot metadata

-s, --sync

Sync filesystem after delete

CONFIGURATION

/etc/snapper/configs/

Per-subvolume configuration files defining snapshot types, cleanup algorithms, and retention policies (timeline and number limits).

/etc/sysconfig/snapper

Global snapper settings including the list of active configurations (SNAPPER_CONFIGS).

CAVEATS

Rollback is only supported on Btrfs with proper system configuration. Snapshots consume disk space; monitor usage with btrfs filesystem df. Non-root users need configuration permissions set via ALLOW_USERS. The /.snapshots directory must have correct permissions.

HISTORY

snapper was created by Arvin Schnell at openSUSE/SUSE and first released around 2011. It was designed to leverage Btrfs snapshot capabilities for system recovery and became a key component of openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise. Support for thin-provisioned LVM was added later.