diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java
index dbd05117f..8df583cc6 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java
@@ -422,7 +422,6 @@ public class DirCacheCheckout {
 			if (!file.getParentFile().mkdirs()) {
 				// ignore
 			}
-			file.createNewFile();
 			DirCacheEntry entry = dc.getEntry(path);
 			checkoutEntry(repo, file, entry);
 		}