diff --git a/builtin/rev-list.c b/builtin/rev-list.c
index d5345b6a2e..49325f6f05 100644
--- a/builtin/rev-list.c
+++ b/builtin/rev-list.c
@@ -479,7 +479,8 @@ int cmd_rev_list(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		mark_edges_uninteresting(&revs, show_edge);
 
 	if (bisect_list) {
-		int reaches = reaches, all = all;
+		FAKE_INIT(int, reaches, 0);
+		FAKE_INIT(int, all, 0);
 
 		find_bisection(&revs.commits, &reaches, &all, bisect_find_all);
 
diff --git a/fast-import.c b/fast-import.c
index b70ac025e0..04023e7c5f 100644
--- a/fast-import.c
+++ b/fast-import.c
@@ -3003,7 +3003,7 @@ static void cat_blob(struct object_entry *oe, struct object_id *oid)
 
 static void parse_get_mark(const char *p)
 {
-	struct object_entry *oe = oe;
+	FAKE_INIT(struct object_entry *, oe, NULL);
 	char output[GIT_MAX_HEXSZ + 2];
 
 	/* get-mark SP <object> LF */
@@ -3020,7 +3020,7 @@ static void parse_get_mark(const char *p)
 
 static void parse_cat_blob(const char *p)
 {
-	struct object_entry *oe = oe;
+	FAKE_INIT(struct object_entry *, oe, NULL);
 	struct object_id oid;
 
 	/* cat-blob SP <object> LF */
diff --git a/git-compat-util.h b/git-compat-util.h
index bbd92a8627..6069a4bffb 100644
--- a/git-compat-util.h
+++ b/git-compat-util.h
@@ -51,6 +51,23 @@
 #endif
 #endif
 
+/*
+ * Under certain circumstances Git's source code is cleverer than the C
+ * compiler when the latter warns about some "uninitialized value", e.g. when
+ * a value is both initialized and used under the same condition.
+ *
+ * GCC can be fooled to not spit out this warning by using the construct:
+ * "int value = value;". Other C compilers are not that easily fooled and would
+ * require a #pragma (which is not portable, and would litter the source code).
+ *
+ * To keep things simple, we only fool GCC, and initialize such values instead
+ * when compiling with other C compilers.
+ */
+#ifdef __GNUC__
+#define FAKE_INIT(a, b, c) a b = b
+#else
+#define FAKE_INIT(a, b, c) a b = c
+#endif
 
 /*
  * BUILD_ASSERT_OR_ZERO - assert a build-time dependency, as an expression.
diff --git a/merge-recursive.c b/merge-recursive.c
index cc5fa0a949..12c968eeaa 100644
--- a/merge-recursive.c
+++ b/merge-recursive.c
@@ -2070,7 +2070,7 @@ int merge_recursive(struct merge_options *o,
 {
 	struct commit_list *iter;
 	struct commit *merged_common_ancestors;
-	struct tree *mrtree = mrtree;
+	FAKE_INIT(struct tree *, mrtree, NULL);
 	int clean;
 
 	if (show(o, 4)) {
diff --git a/read-cache.c b/read-cache.c
index 2eb81a66b9..85e5414777 100644
--- a/read-cache.c
+++ b/read-cache.c
@@ -2104,7 +2104,7 @@ static int ce_write_entry(git_SHA_CTX *c, int fd, struct cache_entry *ce,
 			  struct strbuf *previous_name, struct ondisk_cache_entry *ondisk)
 {
 	int size;
-	int saved_namelen = saved_namelen; /* compiler workaround */
+	FAKE_INIT(int, saved_namelen, 0);
 	int result;
 	static unsigned char padding[8] = { 0x00 };