1. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by an apparatus control the apparatus to perform a method, the method comprising: identifying an inode associated with an object located in a hierarchical file system, where the hierarchical file system has a root directory, where the hierarchical file system has a subdirectory that branches out from the root directory along a pathway, and where the object is subject to a size altering operation; identifying an inode chain that describes a pathway in the hierarchical file system from the object through a subdirectory based, at least in part, on ancestry information associated with the inode; performing a size constraint analysis for the subdirectory on the pathway based, at least in part, on size constraint information associated with the inodes on the inode chain; and selectively performing the size altering operation associated with the object based, at least in part, on the size constraint analysis.