diff --git a/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/roots/ProjectRootUtil.java b/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/roots/ProjectRootUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..15017802c552
--- /dev/null
+++ b/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/roots/ProjectRootUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2000-2016 JetBrains s.r.o.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.intellij.openapi.roots;
+
+import com.intellij.openapi.project.Project;
+import com.intellij.openapi.vfs.VirtualFile;
+import com.intellij.psi.search.FilenameIndex;
+import com.intellij.psi.search.GlobalSearchScope;
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
+
+import java.util.Collection;
+
+public class ProjectRootUtil {
+  @NotNull
+  public static VirtualFile findSymlinkedFileInContent(@NotNull Project project, @NotNull VirtualFile forFile) {
+    GlobalSearchScope scope = GlobalSearchScope.allScope(project);
+
+    if (scope.contains(forFile)) return forFile;
+
+    Collection<VirtualFile> projectFiles =
+      FilenameIndex.getVirtualFilesByName(project, forFile.getName(), true, scope);
+
+    for (VirtualFile eachContentFile : projectFiles) {
+      if (forFile.equals(eachContentFile.getCanonicalFile())) return eachContentFile;
+    }
+    
+    return forFile;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/platform/platform-tests/testSrc/com/intellij/openapi/roots/ProjectRootUtilSymlinkedFilesTest.java b/platform/platform-tests/testSrc/com/intellij/openapi/roots/ProjectRootUtilSymlinkedFilesTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..54cf9bdfea8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/platform/platform-tests/testSrc/com/intellij/openapi/roots/ProjectRootUtilSymlinkedFilesTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2000-2016 JetBrains s.r.o.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.intellij.openapi.roots;
+
+import com.intellij.openapi.application.Result;
+import com.intellij.openapi.application.WriteAction;
+import com.intellij.openapi.util.SystemInfo;
+import com.intellij.openapi.util.io.FileUtil;
+import com.intellij.openapi.util.io.IoTestUtil;
+import com.intellij.openapi.vfs.VfsUtil;
+import com.intellij.openapi.vfs.VirtualFile;
+import com.intellij.testFramework.PlatformTestCase;
+import com.intellij.testFramework.PsiTestUtil;
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+public class ProjectRootUtilSymlinkedFilesTest extends PlatformTestCase {
+  private File myCanonicalDir;
+  private File myCanonicalFile;
+  private VirtualFile myCanonicalVFile;
+  private File myContentDir;
+  private VirtualFile myContentVDir;
+  private File myLibraryDir;
+  private VirtualFile myLibraryVDir;
+
+  @Override
+  protected boolean shouldRunTest() {
+    return super.shouldRunTest() && SystemInfo.areSymLinksSupported;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void setUp() throws Exception {
+    super.setUp();
+    myCanonicalDir = FileUtil.createTempDirectory("canonical", null);
+    myCanonicalFile = new File(myCanonicalDir, "foo.txt");
+    assertTrue(myCanonicalFile.createNewFile());
+
+    myCanonicalVFile = VfsUtil.findFileByIoFile(myCanonicalFile, true);
+    assertNotNull(myCanonicalVFile);
+
+    myContentDir = FileUtil.createTempDirectory("content", null);
+    myContentVDir = VfsUtil.findFileByIoFile(myContentDir, true);
+    assertNotNull(myContentVDir);
+    PsiTestUtil.addContentRoot(getModule(), myContentVDir);
+
+    myLibraryDir = FileUtil.createTempDirectory("library", null);
+    myLibraryVDir = VfsUtil.findFileByIoFile(myLibraryDir, true);
+    assertNotNull(myLibraryVDir);
+    PsiTestUtil.addLibrary(getModule(), myLibraryVDir.getPath());
+  }
+
+  public void testNoFilesInContent() throws Exception {
+    assertEquals(myCanonicalVFile, ProjectRootUtil.findSymlinkedFileInContent(getProject(), myCanonicalVFile));
+  }
+
+  public void testLinkedDirInContent() throws Exception {
+    doTestLinkedDirInProjectRoots(true);
+  }
+
+  public void testLinkedDirInLibrary() throws Exception {
+    doTestLinkedDirInProjectRoots(false);
+  }
+
+  public void doTestLinkedDirInProjectRoots(boolean content) throws Exception {
+    String linkedPath = (content ? myContentDir : myLibraryDir).getPath() + "/linked";
+    IoTestUtil.createSymLink(myCanonicalDir.getPath(), linkedPath, true);
+    
+    VirtualFile linkedVFile = VfsUtil.findFileByIoFile(new File(linkedPath, myCanonicalFile.getName()), true);
+    
+    assertEquals(linkedVFile, ProjectRootUtil.findSymlinkedFileInContent(getProject(), myCanonicalVFile));
+  }
+
+  // not supported
+  public void _testLinkedFileInSources() throws Exception {
+    String linkedPath = myContentDir.getPath() + "/linked.txt";
+    IoTestUtil.createSymLink(myCanonicalVFile.getPath(), linkedPath, true);
+    
+    VirtualFile linkedVFile = VfsUtil.findFileByIoFile(new File(linkedPath), true);
+    assertEquals(linkedVFile, ProjectRootUtil.findSymlinkedFileInContent(getProject(), myCanonicalVFile));
+  }
+  
+  public void testFileWithTheSameNotButNotLinked() throws Exception {
+    new WriteAction<Object>() {
+      @Override
+      protected void run(@NotNull Result<Object> result) throws Throwable {
+        myContentVDir.createChildData(this, myCanonicalFile.getName());
+      }
+    }.execute();
+
+    assertEquals(myCanonicalVFile, ProjectRootUtil.findSymlinkedFileInContent(getProject(), myCanonicalVFile));
+  }
+
+  public void testWhenSeveralLinkedAlwaysReturnTheSameFile() throws Exception {
+    String linkedPath1 = myContentDir.getPath() + "/linked1";
+    IoTestUtil.createSymLink(myCanonicalDir.getPath(), linkedPath1, true);
+    VirtualFile linkedVFile1 = VfsUtil.findFileByIoFile(new File(linkedPath1, myCanonicalFile.getName()), true);
+    assertNotNull(linkedVFile1);
+
+    String linkedPath2 = myContentDir.getPath() + "/linked2";
+    IoTestUtil.createSymLink(myCanonicalDir.getPath(), linkedPath2, true);
+    VirtualFile linkedVFile2 = VfsUtil.findFileByIoFile(new File(linkedPath2, myCanonicalFile.getName()), true);
+    assertNotNull(linkedVFile2);
+
+    VirtualFile found = ProjectRootUtil.findSymlinkedFileInContent(getProject(), myCanonicalVFile);
+    assertTrue(found.equals(linkedVFile1) || found.equals(linkedVFile2));
+    for(int i = 0; i  < 10; i++) {
+      assertEquals("try: " + i, found, ProjectRootUtil.findSymlinkedFileInContent(getProject(), myCanonicalVFile));
+    }
+  }
+
+  public void testLinkedAndCanonicalUnderContent() throws Exception {
+    doTestLinkedAndCanonicalUnderRoot(true);
+  }
+  
+  public void testLinkedAndCanonicalUnderLibraryRoot() throws Exception {
+    doTestLinkedAndCanonicalUnderRoot(false);
+  }
+
+  private void doTestLinkedAndCanonicalUnderRoot(boolean content) throws InterruptedException, IOException {
+    String linkedPath = myContentDir.getPath() + "/linked";
+    IoTestUtil.createSymLink(myCanonicalDir.getPath(), linkedPath, true);
+
+    VirtualFile linkedVFile = VfsUtil.findFileByIoFile(new File(linkedPath, myCanonicalFile.getName()), true);
+    assertEquals(linkedVFile, ProjectRootUtil.findSymlinkedFileInContent(getProject(), myCanonicalVFile));
+    if(content) {
+      PsiTestUtil.addContentRoot(getModule(), myCanonicalVFile.getParent());
+    } else {
+      PsiTestUtil.addLibrary(getModule(), myCanonicalVFile.getParent().getPath());
+    }
+    assertEquals(myCanonicalVFile, ProjectRootUtil.findSymlinkedFileInContent(getProject(), myCanonicalVFile));
+  }
+}