diff --git a/compat/mingw.c b/compat/mingw.c
index 36ef8d32147f003fb3912e6e08f8ad13cb370868..5478b747ceebfd44e9e5b45cda5267244acb8ff6 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.c
+++ b/compat/mingw.c
@@ -123,13 +123,17 @@ int mingw_open (const char *filename, int oflags, ...)
 {
 	va_list args;
 	unsigned mode;
+	int fd;
+
 	va_start(args, oflags);
 	mode = va_arg(args, int);
 	va_end(args);
 
 	if (!strcmp(filename, "/dev/null"))
 		filename = "nul";
-	int fd = open(filename, oflags, mode);
+
+	fd = open(filename, oflags, mode);
+
 	if (fd < 0 && (oflags & O_CREAT) && errno == EACCES) {
 		DWORD attrs = GetFileAttributes(filename);
 		if (attrs != INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES && (attrs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY))
@@ -580,10 +584,11 @@ static char **get_path_split(void)
 
 static void free_path_split(char **path)
 {
+	char **p = path;
+
 	if (!path)
 		return;
 
-	char **p = path;
 	while (*p)
 		free(*p++);
 	free(path);
@@ -1120,9 +1125,9 @@ int sigaction(int sig, struct sigaction *in, struct sigaction *out)
 #undef signal
 sig_handler_t mingw_signal(int sig, sig_handler_t handler)
 {
+	sig_handler_t old = timer_fn;
 	if (sig != SIGALRM)
 		return signal(sig, handler);
-	sig_handler_t old = timer_fn;
 	timer_fn = handler;
 	return old;
 }
@@ -1209,8 +1214,9 @@ struct dirent *mingw_readdir(DIR *dir)
 
 	if (dir->dd_handle == (long)INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE && dir->dd_stat == 0)
 	{
+		DWORD lasterr;
 		handle = FindFirstFileA(dir->dd_name, &buf);
-		DWORD lasterr = GetLastError();
+		lasterr = GetLastError();
 		dir->dd_handle = (long)handle;
 		if (handle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE && (lasterr != ERROR_NO_MORE_FILES)) {
 			errno = err_win_to_posix(lasterr);
diff --git a/help.c b/help.c
index 294337e71c0c8f1c3e150dd0b566c04db96c013d..fd51b8e8ef748a146676de6192e0fb9170ed8836 100644
--- a/help.c
+++ b/help.c
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ static int is_executable(const char *name)
 		return 0;
 
 #ifdef __MINGW32__
-	/* cannot trust the executable bit, peek into the file instead */
+{	/* cannot trust the executable bit, peek into the file instead */
 	char buf[3] = { 0 };
 	int n;
 	int fd = open(name, O_RDONLY);
@@ -140,6 +140,7 @@ static int is_executable(const char *name)
 				st.st_mode |= S_IXUSR;
 		close(fd);
 	}
+}
 #endif
 	return st.st_mode & S_IXUSR;
 }
diff --git a/run-command.c b/run-command.c
index ac314a5a8d96d74a36dd2f274707204142e84b7b..02aaedfb8ca21d5fa706753937d5a1f7a7452038 100644
--- a/run-command.c
+++ b/run-command.c
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ int start_command(struct child_process *cmd)
 		error("cannot fork() for %s: %s", cmd->argv[0],
 			strerror(failed_errno = errno));
 #else
+{
 	int s0 = -1, s1 = -1, s2 = -1;	/* backups of stdin, stdout, stderr */
 	const char **sargv = cmd->argv;
 	char **env = environ;
@@ -197,6 +198,7 @@ int start_command(struct child_process *cmd)
 		dup2(s1, 1), close(s1);
 	if (s2 >= 0)
 		dup2(s2, 2), close(s2);
+}
 #endif
 
 	if (cmd->pid < 0) {