5.1.3.1. Introduction to Project Size Calculation

About

• The below information is valid in Strawberry version 6.4.28 or newer versions.
• After updating from a Strawberry version older than 6.4.27 to a newer version, it is recommended to run the project size calculation manually, please follow these steps.

Introduction

In previous versions, Strawberry only assessed the size of a project within its own scope, meaning references (hard links) to another project were not taken into account when calculating the size of a project. This resulted in various issues:

• Files restored from the archive and located in the Linked-Files folder were excluded from the project size calculation.
• Deduplicated files that exist outside the Linked-Files folder were previously counted towards the project size, even if they didn’t contribute to the size of that specific project.
• Files moved into the Linked-Files folder were not considered when calculating the project size, even if they were not necessarily linked files.
• Conversely, linked files moved out of the “Linked-Files” folder are now counted as actual files in the project size, even though they are merely hard links.

Since version 6.4.28, Strawberry’s project size calculation considers references (hard links) to other projects as well. As a result, project sizes are now much more accurate, providing a comprehensive overview of storage utilization across all Strawberry projects on shared storage. Furthermore, the new approach to calculating project sizes is no longer dependent on the contents of the Linked-Files folder, allowing for reliable calculations, regardless of folder names.

How the new project size calculation works

• When a file is initially added to a Strawberry project, its size is counted towards the total size of that project.
• If the same file is linked to another project, its size continues to be counted towards the total size of the initial (origin) project, but it is not considered in the size calculation of the target project.
• However, if the file is deleted from the initial project but still exists in the target project due to the link, its size is now counted towards the total size of the target project.
• In cases where the same file is present in multiple projects, the size of the file is attributed to the project where it was initially included, regardless of its presence in other projects.

As previously mentioned, the new project size calculation also accounts for linked files that are not located inside the Linked-Files folder. Such files mostly occur when Strawberry deduplicates files. The new project size calculation can be summarized as follows:

• Strawberry keeps track of file sizes, including their hard links, across the entire managed shared storage.
• If a file is linked to multiple projects, its size is attributed to the project that originally included it first.
• In cases where multiple projects share the same files through hard links, the project that initially “owned” the file will be the one towards which the file’s size is counted.
• The above logic also applies to library projects.