### Please describe the problem.

in direct mode files with absent content are promised to become regular files but empty... seems to be not a case for me.  page describing direct mode has comments about past problems like that but they were told to be dealt with... so I decided to file a new issue

### What steps will reproduce the problem?

switch to direct mode

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

5.20150519-geaf72fe

### 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

$> git clone ~exppsy/pymvpa2-tutorialdata /tmp/pymvpa2-tutorialdata-clone 
Cloning into '/tmp/pymvpa2-tutorialdata-clone'...
done.

$> cd /tmp/pymvpa2-tutorialdata-clone
debian/  freesurfer/  haxby2001/  hyperalignment_tutorial_data.hdf5.gz@  results/  suma_surfaces/

$> ls -l haxby2001/bold_mc.par hyperalignment_tutorial_data.hdf5.gz
lrwxrwxrwx 1 yoh yoh 199 May 29 15:42 haxby2001/bold_mc.par -> ../.git/annex/objects/KM/Jq/SHA256E-s106236--64972f56116ba575996a0b2fbd26a033dd3e8369e87fda503fec5a45dcd06f57.par/SHA256E-s106236--64972f56116ba575996a0b2fbd26a033dd3e8369e87fda503fec5a45dcd06f57.par
lrwxrwxrwx 1 yoh yoh 208 May 29 15:42 hyperalignment_tutorial_data.hdf5.gz -> .git/annex/objects/1g/M2/SHA256E-s15769613--d4b54133f873ff043df22c6250810c1cb9a177b5eb551ca97d98d664edf8ea3f.hdf5.gz/SHA256E-s15769613--d4b54133f873ff043df22c6250810c1cb9a177b5eb551ca97d98d664edf8ea3f.hdf5.gz

$> git annex enableremote data.pymvpa.org                           
(merging origin/git-annex into git-annex...)
(recording state in git...)
enableremote data.pymvpa.org ok
(recording state in git...)

$> git annex get hyperalignment_tutorial_data.hdf5.gz
/tmp/pymvpa2-tutorialdata-clone/.git/annex/tm 100%[==================================================================================================>]  15.04M  11.2MB/s   in 1.3s   
ok
(recording state in git...)

$> ls -l haxby2001/bold_mc.par hyperalignment_tutorial_data.hdf5.gz
lrwxrwxrwx 1 yoh yoh 199 May 29 15:42 haxby2001/bold_mc.par -> ../.git/annex/objects/KM/Jq/SHA256E-s106236--64972f56116ba575996a0b2fbd26a033dd3e8369e87fda503fec5a45dcd06f57.par/SHA256E-s106236--64972f56116ba575996a0b2fbd26a033dd3e8369e87fda503fec5a45dcd06f57.par
lrwxrwxrwx 1 yoh yoh 208 May 29 15:42 hyperalignment_tutorial_data.hdf5.gz -> .git/annex/objects/1g/M2/SHA256E-s15769613--d4b54133f873ff043df22c6250810c1cb9a177b5eb551ca97d98d664edf8ea3f.hdf5.gz/SHA256E-s15769613--d4b54133f873ff043df22c6250810c1cb9a177b5eb551ca97d98d664edf8ea3f.hdf5.gz

$> git annex direct
commit  
On branch master
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.
nothing to commit, working directory clean
ok
direct hyperalignment_tutorial_data.hdf5.gz ok
direct  ok

$> ls -l haxby2001/bold_mc.par hyperalignment_tutorial_data.hdf5.gz
lrwxrwxrwx 1 yoh yoh      199 May 29 15:42 haxby2001/bold_mc.par -> ../.git/annex/objects/KM/Jq/SHA256E-s106236--64972f56116ba575996a0b2fbd26a033dd3e8369e87fda503fec5a45dcd06f57.par/SHA256E-s106236--64972f56116ba575996a0b2fbd26a033dd3e8369e87fda503fec5a45dcd06f57.par
-rw------- 1 yoh yoh 15769613 May  8 03:42 hyperalignment_tutorial_data.hdf5.gz
2 12569.....................................:Fri 29 May 2015 03:43:08 PM EDT:.

$> git annex version
git-annex version: 5.20150519-geaf72fe
build flags: Assistant Webapp Webapp-secure Pairing Testsuite S3 WebDAV Inotify DBus DesktopNotify XMPP DNS Feeds Quvi TDFA
key/value backends: SHA256E SHA1E SHA512E SHA224E SHA384E SKEIN256E SKEIN512E MD5E SHA256 SHA1 SHA512 SHA224 SHA384 SKEIN256 SKEIN512 MD5 WORM URL
remote types: git gcrypt S3 bup directory rsync web bittorrent webdav tahoe glacier ddar hook external
local repository version: 5
supported repository version: 5
upgrade supported from repository versions: 0 1 2 4


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

> This is behaving as it's intended to. [[done]] --[[Joey]]