dot files (and hidden folders) are not counted in the total size of a directory
I noticed that when I hit Alt+Enter (Properties) on a directory, the stated total size of the directory is completely different than when I hit Space on that directory (sushi). In my particular example (my devel/
directory containing many projects), the difference is astounding:
Properties: 2.0 GB, 75 000 items
Sushi: 3.3 GB, 153179 items
I also tried more tools:
Baobab: 3.6 GB, 138741 items
du: 3.7 GB, 139694 items
It's somewhat sad that none of those tools agrees witch each other :) But I understand that there might be some symlinks and hardlinks in the directory which different tools might count differently. But nautilus properties dialog, that one is completely off. I believe it's caused by the fact that it ignores any dot files/directories (which, in case of .git/
projects or .flatpak-builder/
dirs in my particular example, involve a lot of space).
It's also confusing that by pressing Alt+Enter or Space, you get different results. For a general user, both seem to be "nautilus functionality".
I believe Nautilus should count dot files in the total space computation. Dot files occupy space. One of the basic use cases for measuring directory size is "how much space do I save if I delete this directory"? And the right answer is the one including the dot files. Nautilus currently provides a misleading answer in its properties dialog.
nautilus-3.30.0-2.fc29.x86_64
Fedora 29