{
  "slug": "zfs-clone-promotion",
  "term": "ZFS clone promotion",
  "aliases": [
    "zfs promote"
  ],
  "definition": "ZFS clone promotion reverses the dependency between a clone and its origin dataset and transfers ownership of the origin snapshot and earlier snapshots to the promoted dataset.",
  "note": "Accounting: the former origin becomes a clone, and the promoted dataset takes ownership of the relevant snapshots and their space accounting. The operation consumes no new space, but the new accounting must fit and snapshot names must not conflict. [promote]\n\nRecovery boundary: promotion changes ownership and dependency, not the location of a recovery copy. It does not by itself provide protection against loss of the shared pool. This is a failure-boundary inference, not a measured recovery result. [concepts] [promote]\n\nPending deletion: promotion does not remove every dependency on a deferred origin snapshot. The former origin becomes a clone and snapshot ownership changes; recheck the snapshot's name, holds and clones instead of treating promotion as deletion of the last clone. [promote]",
  "related": [
    "zfs-clone",
    "snapshot",
    "copy-on-write",
    "zfs-deferred-snapshot-destruction"
  ],
  "citations": [
    {
      "id": "promote",
      "title": "OpenZFS v2.3: zfs-promote(8), origin reversal and snapshot accounting",
      "url": "https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/man/v2.3/8/zfs-promote.8.html",
      "accessed": "2026-10-22"
    },
    {
      "id": "concepts",
      "title": "OpenZFS v2.3: zfsconcepts(7), dataset clones and block cloning",
      "url": "https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/man/v2.3/7/zfsconcepts.7.html",
      "accessed": "2026-10-22"
    }
  ],
  "advantages": [],
  "limitations": [],
  "status": "shipping",
  "supersedes": [],
  "supersededBy": [],
  "firstSeen": null,
  "lastSeen": null,
  "updated": "2026-10-22",
  "provenance": [
    "Source review of OpenZFS v2.3 documentation; no pool, promotion or recovery experiment was performed."
  ]
}