/* reading existing config may have overwrote it */
        if (init_shared_repository != -1)
-               shared_repository = init_shared_repository;
+               set_shared_repository(init_shared_repository);
 
        /*
         * We would have created the above under user's umask -- under
         * shared-repository settings, we would need to fix them up.
         */
-       if (shared_repository) {
+       if (get_shared_repository()) {
                adjust_shared_perm(get_git_dir());
                adjust_shared_perm(git_path_buf(&buf, "refs"));
                adjust_shared_perm(git_path_buf(&buf, "refs/heads"));
 
        create_object_directory();
 
-       if (shared_repository) {
+       if (get_shared_repository()) {
                char buf[10];
                /* We do not spell "group" and such, so that
                 * the configuration can be read by older version
                 * and compatibility values for PERM_GROUP and
                 * PERM_EVERYBODY.
                 */
-               if (shared_repository < 0)
+               if (get_shared_repository() < 0)
                        /* force to the mode value */
-                       xsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "0%o", -shared_repository);
-               else if (shared_repository == PERM_GROUP)
+                       xsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "0%o", -get_shared_repository());
+               else if (get_shared_repository() == PERM_GROUP)
                        xsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%d", OLD_PERM_GROUP);
-               else if (shared_repository == PERM_EVERYBODY)
+               else if (get_shared_repository() == PERM_EVERYBODY)
                        xsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%d", OLD_PERM_EVERYBODY);
                else
                        die("BUG: invalid value for shared_repository");
                   "", and the last '%s%s' is the verbatim directory name. */
                printf(_("%s%s Git repository in %s%s\n"),
                       reinit ? _("Reinitialized existing") : _("Initialized empty"),
-                      shared_repository ? _(" shared") : "",
+                      get_shared_repository() ? _(" shared") : "",
                       git_dir, len && git_dir[len-1] != '/' ? "/" : "");
        }
 
                                 * and we know shared_repository should always be 0;
                                 * but just in case we play safe.
                                 */
-                               saved = shared_repository;
-                               shared_repository = 0;
+                               saved = get_shared_repository();
+                               set_shared_repository(0);
                                switch (safe_create_leading_directories_const(argv[0])) {
                                case SCLD_OK:
                                case SCLD_PERMS:
                                        die_errno(_("cannot mkdir %s"), argv[0]);
                                        break;
                                }
-                               shared_repository = saved;
+                               set_shared_repository(saved);
                                if (mkdir(argv[0], 0777) < 0)
                                        die_errno(_("cannot mkdir %s"), argv[0]);
                                mkdir_tried = 1;
        }
 
        if (init_shared_repository != -1)
-               shared_repository = init_shared_repository;
+               set_shared_repository(init_shared_repository);
 
        /*
         * GIT_WORK_TREE makes sense only in conjunction with GIT_DIR
 
 extern int log_all_ref_updates;
 extern int warn_ambiguous_refs;
 extern int warn_on_object_refname_ambiguity;
-extern int shared_repository;
 extern const char *apply_default_whitespace;
 extern const char *apply_default_ignorewhitespace;
 extern const char *git_attributes_file;
 extern unsigned long big_file_threshold;
 extern unsigned long pack_size_limit_cfg;
 
+void set_shared_repository(int value);
+int get_shared_repository(void);
+
 /*
  * Do replace refs need to be checked this run?  This variable is
  * initialized to true unless --no-replace-object is used or
 
 int repository_format_precious_objects;
 const char *git_commit_encoding;
 const char *git_log_output_encoding;
-int shared_repository = PERM_UMASK;
 const char *apply_default_whitespace;
 const char *apply_default_ignorewhitespace;
 const char *git_attributes_file;
 {
        return git_commit_encoding ? git_commit_encoding : "UTF-8";
 }
+
+static int the_shared_repository = PERM_UMASK;
+
+void set_shared_repository(int value)
+{
+       the_shared_repository = value;
+}
+
+int get_shared_repository(void)
+{
+       return the_shared_repository;
+}
 
 {
        int tweak;
 
-       if (shared_repository < 0)
-               tweak = -shared_repository;
+       if (get_shared_repository() < 0)
+               tweak = -get_shared_repository();
        else
-               tweak = shared_repository;
+               tweak = get_shared_repository();
 
        if (!(mode & S_IWUSR))
                tweak &= ~0222;
        if (mode & S_IXUSR)
                /* Copy read bits to execute bits */
                tweak |= (tweak & 0444) >> 2;
-       if (shared_repository < 0)
+       if (get_shared_repository() < 0)
                mode = (mode & ~0777) | tweak;
        else
                mode |= tweak;
 {
        int old_mode, new_mode;
 
-       if (!shared_repository)
+       if (!get_shared_repository())
                return 0;
        if (get_st_mode_bits(path, &old_mode) < 0)
                return -1;