diff --git a/src/core/main.c b/src/core/main.c
index 0ddd629851..74dd895c58 100644
--- a/src/core/main.c
+++ b/src/core/main.c
@@ -1367,7 +1367,7 @@ static int status_welcome(void) {
 
 static int write_container_id(void) {
         const char *c;
-        int r;
+        int r = 0; /* silence gcc warning about r being unitialized below */
 
         c = getenv("container");
         if (isempty(c))