diff --git a/compat/mingw.c b/compat/mingw.c
index fbb02f078d..cb6ed58bd5 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.c
+++ b/compat/mingw.c
@@ -228,6 +228,10 @@ static int retry_ask_yes_no(int *tries, const char *format, ...)
 	return result;
 }
 
+int mingw_core_config(const char *var, const char *value)
+{
+	return 0;
+}
 
 DECLARE_PROC_ADDR(kernel32.dll, BOOL, CreateSymbolicLinkW, LPCWSTR, LPCWSTR, DWORD);
 
diff --git a/compat/mingw.h b/compat/mingw.h
index 49b7bb37e7..053accf035 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.h
+++ b/compat/mingw.h
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ typedef _sigset_t sigset_t;
 #undef _POSIX_THREAD_SAFE_FUNCTIONS
 #endif
 
+extern int mingw_core_config(const char *var, const char *value);
+#define platform_core_config mingw_core_config
+
 /*
  * things that are not available in header files
  */
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index 9defdf27a0..1b213c0040 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -1018,7 +1018,7 @@ static int git_default_core_config(const char *var, const char *value)
 	}
 
 	/* Add other config variables here and to Documentation/config.txt. */
-	return 0;
+	return platform_core_config(var, value);
 }
 
 static int git_default_i18n_config(const char *var, const char *value)
diff --git a/git-compat-util.h b/git-compat-util.h
index 7b3b7e3084..1781b9ec72 100644
--- a/git-compat-util.h
+++ b/git-compat-util.h
@@ -367,6 +367,14 @@ static inline size_t msvc_iconv(iconv_t conv,
 #define _PATH_DEFPATH "/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"
 #endif
 
+#ifndef platform_core_config
+static inline int noop_core_config(const char *var, const char *value)
+{
+	return 0;
+}
+#define platform_core_config noop_core_config
+#endif
+
 #ifndef has_dos_drive_prefix
 static inline int git_has_dos_drive_prefix(const char *path)
 {