Configuring snapper without systemd

Installing the necessary packages

Because of how snapper works, if you’re not using systemd, you’ll need to install cronie or a similar cron implementation that provides you with cron directories, such as /etc/cron.hourly or /etc/cron.daily.

Upon installation, snapper will use these directories to create its cron jobs, so if you already installed snapper but you didn’t install cronie, you’ll need to remove snapper, install cronie, and finally reinstall snapper.

Configurations

Configuring snapper is done through the config files in /etc/snapper/configs/<profile>; the default profile is root.

Additionally, you may manually edit or move the cron jobs.