### Please describe the problem.

When attempting to clone and use a git repository in a subdirectory several levels deep on Windows, I observe symptoms very similar to those described at http://git-annex.branchable.com/direct_mode/#comment-8feee726df4e287dd3751bc77fd1441f.  By contrast, when I attempt the same operation in a subdirectory higher up, the operation is successful.  Logs of both sessions are given below.

My suspicion is that this has to do with exceeding the maximum path length limitation (MAX_PATH) of 260 characters on Windows, as described here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365247.aspx. 


### What steps will reproduce the problem?

See above.


### What version of git-annex are you using? On what operating system?

>git annex version
git-annex version: 5.20140517-gee56d21
build flags: Assistant Webapp Webapp-secure Pairing Testsuite S3 WebDAV DNS Feeds Quvi TDFA CryptoHash
key/value backends: SHA256E SHA1E SHA512E SHA224E SHA384E SKEIN256E SKEIN512E SHA256 SHA1 SHA512 SHA224 SHA384 SKEIN256 SKEIN512 WORM URL
remote types: git gcrypt S3 bup directory rsync web webdav tahoe glacier ddar hook external
local repository version: 5
supported repository version: 5
upgrade supported from repository versions: 2 3 4

>git version
git version 1.9.0.msysgit.0

Operating system: Windows 7 Professional (64-bit), Service Pack 1


### Please provide any additional information below.


[[!format sh """
# If you can, paste a complete transcript of the problem occurring here.
# If the problem is with the git-annex assistant, paste in .git/annex/daemon.log
C:\Users\areeves\Documents\Work\MyDirectoryHere\git>git clone ssh://areeves@myserver:/home/work/git/sbv
Cloning into 'sbv'...
remote: Counting objects: 65, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (57/57), done.
remote: Total 65 (delta 26), reused 0 (delta 0)
Receiving objects: 100% (65/65), 9.25 KiB | 0 bytes/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (26/26), done.
Checking connectivity... done.


C:\Users\areeves\Documents\Work\MyDirectoryHere\git>cd sbv
C:\Users\areeves\Documents\Work\MyDirectoryHere\git\sbv>git annex get

  Detected a filesystem without fifo support.

  Disabling ssh connection caching.

  Detected a crippled filesystem.

  Enabling direct mode.
git-annex: C:\Users\areeves\Documents\Work\MyDirectoryHere\git\sbv\.git\annex\objects\3de\5f4\SHA256-s765223180--c9e2eebd915b4ade9429b00a7a893df928389b3fb4ab759ea9f00b0e05e18de6\: openTempFile: does not exist (No such file or directory)


C:\Users\areeves\Documents\Work\MyDirectoryHere\git\sbv>git annex direct
commit
On branch master
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.

nothing to commit, working directory clean
ok

git-annex: C:\Users\areeves\Documents\Work\MyDirectoryHere\git\sbv\.git\annex\objects\3de\5f4\SHA256-s765223180--c9e2eebd915b4ade9429b00a7a893df928389b3fb4ab759ea9f00b0e05e18de6\: openTempFile: does not exist (No such file or directory)
failed
git-annex: direct: 1 failed


C:\Users\areeves\Documents\Work\MyDirectoryHere\git\sbv>cd c:\temp
c:\temp>git clone ssh://areeves@myserver:/home/work/git/sbv
Cloning into 'sbv'...
remote: Counting objects: 65, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (57/57), done.
remote: Total 65 (delta 26), reused 0 (delta 0)
Receiving objects: 100% (65/65), 9.25 KiB | 0 bytes/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (26/26), done.
Checking connectivity... done.

c:\temp>cd sbv
c:\temp\sbv>git annex direct

  Detected a filesystem without fifo support.

  Disabling ssh connection caching.

  Detected a crippled filesystem.

  Enabling direct mode.
(Recording state in git...)


c:\temp\sbv>git annex get
get BigBinaryFile_Data_Package_2012-03-31.tar.bz2.gpg (merging origin/git-annex into git-annex...)
(Recording state in git...)
sent 30 bytes  received 765316741 bytes  11011752.10 bytes/sec
total size is 765223180  speedup is 1.00
ok
(Recording state in git...)


c:\temp\sbv>

# End of transcript or log.
"""]]

[[!meta title="window's tiny mind is confused by some long paths used by git-annex"]]