diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-event/sd-event.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-event/sd-event.c
index dd257eadfe..82056998bd 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-event/sd-event.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-event/sd-event.c
@@ -2095,7 +2095,7 @@ _public_ int sd_event_add_inotify(
                 sd_event_inotify_handler_t callback,
                 void *userdata) {
 
-        sd_event_source *s;
+        sd_event_source *s = NULL; /* avoid false maybe-uninitialized warning */
         int fd, r;
 
         assert_return(path, -EINVAL);