Cannot clone live filesystem because strategy sets volumes as read-only

[raphaelpereira]

The way I understand, btrfs-clone sets the existing volumes as read-only before sending them (instead of creating a read-only snapshot). This forbids a filesystem that is being used to be cloned. Is that right or I misunderstood something?

[gaetanquentin]

you can use a live filesystem, but it will be unusable until the clone is finished.

[leggewie]

@gaetanquentin Thank you for this tool. The implied suggestion by @raphaelpereira would obviously be a great RFE.

[mwilck]

You can use this tool to clone a live file system. btrfs-clone will create read only snapshots of all subvolumes it clones, because it can't allow the to-be-cloned subvolume to change while being cloned. This means that changes to the cloned file system that occur during cloning will not be reflected in the clone.

It's therefore recommended to apply as few changes as possible to the file system which is being cloned; IOW the system should be as idle as possible.