diff --git a/builtin/rev-list.c b/builtin/rev-list.c
index 0aa93d5891..adde1550aa 100644
--- a/builtin/rev-list.c
+++ b/builtin/rev-list.c
@@ -388,7 +388,8 @@ 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);
 
 		revs.commits = find_bisection(revs.commits, &reaches, &all,
 					      bisect_find_all);
diff --git a/fast-import.c b/fast-import.c
index 64fe602f0b..da65ba86ac 100644
--- a/fast-import.c
+++ b/fast-import.c
@@ -2992,7 +2992,7 @@ static void cat_blob(struct object_entry *oe, unsigned char sha1[20])
 
 static void parse_get_mark(const char *p)
 {
-	struct object_entry *oe = oe;
+	FAKE_INIT(struct object_entry *, oe, NULL);
 	char output[42];
 
 	/* get-mark SP <object> LF */
@@ -3009,7 +3009,7 @@ 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);
 	unsigned char sha1[20];
 
 	/* cat-blob SP <object> LF */
diff --git a/git-compat-util.h b/git-compat-util.h
index 8be0bde057..3522c8430d 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 b7ff1ada3c..d5717626b3 100644
--- a/merge-recursive.c
+++ b/merge-recursive.c
@@ -2005,7 +2005,7 @@ 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 9054369dd0..a9f1f5c487 100644
--- a/read-cache.c
+++ b/read-cache.c
@@ -1893,7 +1893,7 @@ static int ce_write_entry(git_SHA_CTX *c, int fd, struct cache_entry *ce,
 {
 	int size;
 	struct ondisk_cache_entry *ondisk;
-	int saved_namelen = saved_namelen; /* compiler workaround */
+	FAKE_INIT(int, saved_namelen, 0);
 	char *name;
 	int result;