VFS_BTRFS(8)

💚 VFS_BTRFS(8) — System Administration tools 💚

okay bestie, welcome to the vfs_btrfs page, section 8 of the system administration tools manuals 🦋 she's part of the samba(8) suite and she's here to make your Btrfs filesystem do cute little tricks for SMB clients. no cap.

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✨ NAME ✨

vfs_btrfs — Utilize features provided by the Btrfs filesystem 💅

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

vfs objects = btrfs

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so this VFS module is part of the samba(8) suite 🫶 and what she does is expose Btrfs specific features for use by Samba. main character energy, honestly.

here's the tea on the cloned ranges thing 🍓 Btrfs allows for multiple files to share the same on-disk data through the use of cloned ranges. when an SMB client issues a request to copy duplicate data (via FSCTL_SRV_COPYCHUNK), this module maps the request to a Btrfs clone range IOCTL, instead of performing reads and writes required by a traditional copy. literally the glow-up: it saves storage capacity and greatly reduces disk IO. we love an efficient queen 👑

this module also exposes Btrfs per-file compression support to SMB clients via the get/set compression fsctls ✨

and Btrfs snapshots can be manipulated by Samba's FSRVP server 🧚 but listen — snapshot manipulation using this module is currently considered experimental, and is therefore disabled by default. the vfs_snapper module is instead recommended for this purpose, so like, keep that in mind 🙈

this module is stackable 💖 (she plays well with others, obviously)

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• btrfs: manipulate snapshots = [yes|no] — when you set this to yes, experimental support for the creation and deletion of snapshots via corresponding Btrfs IOCTLs will be enabled 🔥 the default is no, which means that such requests are passed through to any underlying VFS module. so if you don't touch it, she minds her business and lets the next module in the stack handle it 🤷♀️

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🌈 CONFIGURATION 🌈

vfs_btrfs requires that the underlying share path is a Btrfs subvolume. non-negotiable bestie 💀

[share]
vfs objects = btrfs
btrfs: manipulate snapshots = no

to use the experimental snapshot manipulation functionality provided by this module, it must be explicitly enabled, and Samba's FSRVP server must be running 🏃♀️ both. not one. both.

the vfs_shadow_copy module can be used to expose snapshots created by vfs_btrfs to Windows Explorer as file / directory "previous versions" 👑 iconic behaviour honestly.

[global]
registry shares = yes
include = registry

[share]
vfs objects = btrfs shadow_copy
btrfs: manipulate snapshots = yes

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⭐ VERSION ⭐

this man page is part of version 4.24.7-Ubuntu-4.24.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1 of the Samba suite 🌟

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

the original Samba software and related utilities were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed 🌈

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okay that's the whole page bestie, go forth and clone those ranges 🦋💖

and that's a wrap from VFS_BTRFS(8) — Samba version 4.24.7-Ubuntu-4.24.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1, dated 09/13/2026. periodt, mwah 💋