Modules: transitive dependencies

I've just entered a defect (http://www.intellij.net/tracker/idea/viewSCR?publicId=25819 ) about transitive dependencies between modules being handled differently (and therefore inconsistently) by IDEA's editor's error marking, and the compiler.

Supposed I have 3 modules A, B and C, where A depends on B, B depends on C, but there is no direct dependency of A on C.

Should code in A be able to direct reference a class from C?
Or should it only be able to reference classes from modules on which A is directly dependent (i.e. B)?

Currently, the compiler seems to do the first, while the editor does the second.

I guess the second (only direct) is probably more controlled.
But how do people expect it to work, and how do people think it should work?

Calum