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Date:      Wed, 25 Jul 2018 13:26:24 +0000
From:      bugzilla-noreply@freebsd.org
To:        doc@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   [Bug 230037] Inconsistency in 19.4.5.3 of the handbook: you cannot "roll back and forth between snapshots".
Message-ID:  <bug-230037-9@https.bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/>

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https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=3D230037

            Bug ID: 230037
           Summary: Inconsistency in 19.4.5.3 of the handbook: you cannot
                    "roll back and forth between snapshots".
           Product: Documentation
           Version: Latest
          Hardware: Any
                OS: Any
            Status: New
          Severity: Affects Some People
          Priority: ---
         Component: Documentation
          Assignee: doc@FreeBSD.org
          Reporter: pl@catslair.org

Section 19.4.5.3 explains how the rollback feature works but unfortunately
contains a line which is totally incorrect and starts to confuse quite a few
people. The FreeBSD forums have seen a few threads asking about this.

I quote: "Taking a snapshot of the current state of the dataset before roll=
ing
back to a previous one is a good idea when some data is required later. This
way, the user can roll back and forth between snapshots without losing data
that is still valuable."

This is total nonsense. And to add insult to injury the rest of the chapter
actually showcases this itself through an example followed by this line: "T=
his
warning means that snapshots exist between the current state of the dataset=
 and
the snapshot to which the user wants to roll back. To complete the rollback,
these snapshots must be deleted.".

This section _is_ correct: you cannot roll back to an earlier snapshot with=
out
deleting any snapshots in between. Therefor it's impossible to "roll back a=
nd
forth between snapshots" as hinted at in the first quoted line. It's totally
nonsense: the moment you made that snapshot you're going to try and roll ba=
ck
to a snapshot before that one. Hence: there's an in-between snapshot which
needs to be deleted.

Suggestion: remove the offending 2 lines. It is NOT a good idea to make a
snapshot before doing a rollback, because you'll only end up having to remo=
ve
that snapshot in the first place.

I'd like to reference this thread in the forum which showcases the confusio=
n:

https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/are-these-two-paragraphs-contradictory.6=
6851/

Also please check the link shared by jpierri which shows another example of=
 a
confused user:

https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/switching-between-snapshots-confused-new=
bie.63329/

I think that section is doing more harm than good right now.

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