12 ms·

Given that APFS supports snapshots, one possible solution would be to create functionality like Solaris/FreeBSD boot environments: * https://wiki.freebsd.org/B

Given that APFS supports snapshots, one possible solution would be to create functionality like Solaris/FreeBSD boot environments: * https://wiki.freebsd.org/BootEnvironments https://wiki.freebsd.org/BootEnvironments * https://klarasystems.com/articles/managing-boot-environments/ https://klarasystems.com/articles/managing-boot-environments... * https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23824_01/html/821-2726/gkwcz.html https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23824_01/html/821-2726/gkwcz.htm...

wkat4242 3y ago
Boot environments on FreeBSD are so cool. Nice to see them mentioned here.
mnd999 3y ago
Doesn’t help with the firmware problem though. If your old boot environment’s driver set doesn’t work with the newer flashed firmware things won’t work as before.
- duskwuff 3y ago
  > Doesn’t help with the firmware problem though. That's no longer an issue on Apple Silicon systems. There is no firmware resident in hardware; everything gets loaded on boot.
- krylon 3y ago
  That does sound like a problem Apple could solve if they wanted to. I vaguely recall that some PC motherboards came with a duplicate BIOS, so if an update broke it, it could fall back to a clean copy. AFAIK, some smartphones do this as well. Of course, if Apple manages to not break their OS with updates, that's not a problem in practice. I don't have a lot of experience with macOS, so I have no idea how problem-prone Apple's updates are.
pxc 3y ago
Does macOS support labeled snapshots instead of time-based ones yet? Is there a way to tell the OS that a certain snapshot never expires? Does disabling and then reenabling Time Machine still delete all your snapshots?
- throw0101a 3y ago
  Going into Disk Utility, and selecting View > (Show/Hide) APFS Snapshots I got a list. The most recent one on my system was called "com.apple.TimeMachine.2023-07-15-131420.local". I right-clicked on it and changed "2023-07-15-131420.local" to "foo" and, after a warning, it renamed it (only the com.apple seems to be mandatory): * https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/disk-utility/dskuf82354dc/mac https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/disk-utility/dskuf8235... Running "tmutil listlocalsnapshots /" the new "foo" named one shows up. Various CLI stuff that can be done: * https://eshop.macsales.com/blog/56681-working-with-macos-snapshots/ https://eshop.macsales.com/blog/56681-working-with-macos-sna... * https://old.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/zymnlz/apfs_time_machine_backups_accessible_via_the_cli/ https://old.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/zymnlz/apfs_time_machi...
  - abathur 3y ago
    I don't think this affects localsnapshots expiring, though. Also, apfs.util has a flag for restoring a snapshot (but I haven't been able to figure out the syntax).

wkat4242 3y ago

Boot environments on FreeBSD are so cool. Nice to see them mentioned here.

mnd999 3y ago

Doesn’t help with the firmware problem though. If your old boot environment’s driver set doesn’t work with the newer flashed firmware things won’t work as before.

duskwuff 3y ago
> Doesn’t help with the firmware problem though. That's no longer an issue on Apple Silicon systems. There is no firmware resident in hardware; everything gets loaded on boot.
krylon 3y ago
That does sound like a problem Apple could solve if they wanted to. I vaguely recall that some PC motherboards came with a duplicate BIOS, so if an update broke it, it could fall back to a clean copy. AFAIK, some smartphones do this as well. Of course, if Apple manages to not break their OS with updates, that's not a problem in practice. I don't have a lot of experience with macOS, so I have no idea how problem-prone Apple's updates are.

pxc 3y ago

Does macOS support labeled snapshots instead of time-based ones yet? Is there a way to tell the OS that a certain snapshot never expires? Does disabling and then reenabling Time Machine still delete all your snapshots?

throw0101a 3y ago
Going into Disk Utility, and selecting View > (Show/Hide) APFS Snapshots I got a list. The most recent one on my system was called "com.apple.TimeMachine.2023-07-15-131420.local". I right-clicked on it and changed "2023-07-15-131420.local" to "foo" and, after a warning, it renamed it (only the com.apple seems to be mandatory): * https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/disk-utility/dskuf82354dc/mac https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/disk-utility/dskuf8235... Running "tmutil listlocalsnapshots /" the new "foo" named one shows up. Various CLI stuff that can be done: * https://eshop.macsales.com/blog/56681-working-with-macos-snapshots/ https://eshop.macsales.com/blog/56681-working-with-macos-sna... * https://old.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/zymnlz/apfs_time_machine_backups_accessible_via_the_cli/ https://old.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/zymnlz/apfs_time_machi...
- abathur 3y ago
  I don't think this affects localsnapshots expiring, though. Also, apfs.util has a flag for restoring a snapshot (but I haven't been able to figure out the syntax).