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linuxmint / timeshift

System restore tool for Linux. Creates filesystem snapshots using rsync+hardlinks, or BTRFS snapshots. Supports scheduled snapshots, multiple backup levels, and exclude filters. Snapshots can be restored while system is running or from Live CD/USB.
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Unable to Terminate or Interact with Scheduled Backup Process When Disk Is Full #240

Open PeterDaveHello opened 1 year ago

PeterDaveHello commented 1 year ago

Describe the bug

During a scheduled backup, the disk (partition) became full, triggering a system notification about the lack of storage space. I attempted to open the Timeshift GUI to see if old snapshots could be deleted. However, a dialog with a title ? appeared in the Taskbar/Panel, stating "Scheduled snapshot in progress..." and "Another instance of Timeshift is creating a snapshot. Please wait a few minutes and try again," as shown below:

image

image

Upon double-checking the system tray, I noticed that the snapshot creation was still ongoing, as indicated by the message "A Timeshift system snapshot is being created":

image

Double-clicking or right-clicking the icon produced no response, menu, or options, and there were no interactive windows available. This situation has persisted for approximately five hours without any changes, meaning the application did not terminate or resolve the issue on its own. As a result, there was no proper way to terminate or interact with the ongoing process except by directly killing it.

To Reproduce

I have not had the opportunity to reproduce this issue yet, as the problem is still ongoing. Reporting it here for now.

Expected behavior

  1. The application should detect a disk-full condition and terminate the backup process accordingly.
  2. The system tray icon should allow for menu or window pop-up interactions to pause or end the process.

System:

PeterDaveHello commented 1 year ago

I used sudo killall timeshift to terminate the hanging process. The system tray icon disappeared as a result. This allowed me to launch a new Timeshift instance successfully, and I was able to clean up old backups.

PeterDaveHello commented 1 year ago

Upon further inspection, a residual backup was discovered in /timeshift/snapshots. This is suspected to be a remnant of the backup process that was manually killed. The backup was not displayed in the Timeshift interface and had to be manually removed.

AlexFolland commented 2 weeks ago

How do you even add this tray icon to look at the menu in your second screenshot? I am using KDE Plasma and despite a timeshift backup running right now as I can see in htop and by trying to open the timeshift GUI, I don't see a tray icon for timeshift in the entire list of tray icon entries in the system tray settings. I also don't see any notification for starting the timeshift backup, and yet my PC was not ready for a backup to start when it did, yet I was not informed at all.

PeterDaveHello commented 2 weeks ago

I'm using Cinnamon, and from what I remember, the Timeshift tray icon just showed up without any extra setup. My system has been upgraded recently, so I’m not entirely sure if anything has changed. Maybe check if the icon is hidden in the tray settings.

AlexFolland commented 2 weeks ago

Maybe check if the icon is hidden in the tray settings.

I don't see a tray icon for timeshift in the entire list of tray icon entries in the system tray settings.

Good idea, and I already did that.

I'm using Cinnamon, and from what I remember, the Timeshift tray icon just showed up without any extra setup.

OK, so maybe it's using a Cinnamon-specific system. I found that there's already an issue open here for creating a general tray icon that works in other desktop environments.