Install around the /home subvolume if the user chooses the option to backup existing users

[SharkPlush]

Keep in mind I have no idea how BTRFS works so I'm just saying an idea and I'm hoping it's possible lol.

Currently the installer will copy all the data from /home into the installer USB then back to the main SSD, but the user would need a big installer USB and depending on the amount of data could be a time consuming process.

Instead of copying stuff back and forward, is it possible for the installer to remove all subvolumes except the /home subvolume?

Then just add fresh subvolumes and install Aeon into them without touching /home?

So it put it simply, is it possible for Aeon to install around the /home subvolume?

The benefits of doing it like this are:

• Much faster installation times because there isn't any user data being transferred back and forward.
• The user doesn't need a massive installer USB because everything is done on the main SSD.
• Reliably is increased because the risk of data corruption is reduced since there isn't any data being copied back and forward.

[sysrich]

There's multiple reasons this idea is not feasible

1- Our deployment tool of choice, systemd-repart only populates empty partitions

https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/repart.d.html#

This option has no effect if the partition already exists: it cannot be used to copy additional files into an existing partition, it may only be used to populate a file system created anew.

2- Subvolumes are not partitions - /home (or more accurately /@/home which is then mounted as /home) is effectively just a 'directory with benefits' on the btrfs partition. You cant wipe the btrfs partition and keep /@/home..so, just like any other partition wiping situation, if there's a directory you wish to keep, you need to move it off the partition about to be wiped.

3- We want /@/home to stay as a subvolume and not a partition because we can never know in advance how much space a user might want for /@/home in proprotion to /@/var or any other part of the filesystem. Any DesktopOS that tries to use partitions like this ends up either making / too small or /home too small resulting in unhappy users when they suddenly cant update their system any more or write stuff to disk even though there's plenty of space elsewhere. Having /@/home as a subvolume guarantees that a user has full access to all of their storage on their device and it adapts to their use, rather than expecting them to fit some pre-defined pre-destined layout.