diff --git a/fast-import.c b/fast-import.c
index a0c2c2ff14..5f539d7d8f 100644
--- a/fast-import.c
+++ b/fast-import.c
@@ -2465,6 +2465,7 @@ static void note_change_n(struct branch *b, unsigned char *old_fanout)
 		hashcpy(sha1, oe->idx.sha1);
 	} else if (!prefixcmp(p, "inline ")) {
 		inline_data = 1;
+		oe = NULL; /* not used with inline_data, but makes gcc happy */
 		p += strlen("inline");  /* advance to space */
 	} else {
 		if (get_sha1_hex(p, sha1))