As Linux starts getting used by more newbie users, it makes sense to have system restore features built into the core experience itself. Most newbie users currently have to go out of their way to find solutions like Pika backup, timeshift, and so on which I feel defeats the purpose of good backup solutions as data integrity should be one of the first things a user should be able to expect from their OS. Here is my proposal for a Backup and Restore section in System Settings.
- System Restore - For OSes with supported configurations (including snapshot friendly FSs such as btrfs), expose a System Restore functionality (similar to how Timeshift currently provides) with user configurable maximum snapshot size.
- Data Backup - Introduce functionality such as from Pika Backup to allow users to backup data to a local drive/NAS/maybe even cloud providers such as Nextcloud along with setting up a schedule for it.
The combination of these two should make for a very “Time Machine”-esque experience on the Linux desktop which could be a really nice feature to have for everyone, especially new users. Personally, I do not have much experience coding for GNOME so just wanted to open a discussion to see what steps would be needed, get inputs from community members, and gauge how something like this may be pursued