WHY GIT HAS A VARIABLE NAMED FALSE_BUT_THE_COMPILER_DOES_NOT_KNOW_IT_

Summary from the TLDR Dev newsletter

Git uses a specialized C programming trick involving a global variable named `false_but_the_compiler_does_not_know_it_` to manage specific compiler warnings. By defining this variable in a separate compilation unit without a constant qualifier, developers prevent compilers from incorrectly flagging valid code as unreachable. While the trick suppresses false-positive warnings during initial compilation, link-time optimization can still identify the constant value and remove redundant branches from the final binary.