Re: [PATCH v4] merge-recursive: check GIT_MERGE_VERBOSITY only once

> I think, the main benefits are:
> * Code is more readable, no duplicated calls with the same constant string
> argument.
> * Code is potentially safer, the second getenv() call may return another
> pointer value which could be NULL (and yes, this is an arguable point as it
> can be done only artificially).
>
>> For the sake of fairness, I would say that the resulting code may be
>> easier to follow and has one less instance of a constant string that
>> the compiler cannot statically check if we made a typo.  That's the
>> only benefit in this patch as far as I can see.
>> 
>> The original makes a call to see if the result is NULL, and then
>> makes the same call, expecting that we get the same result (not just
>> that it is not NULL, but it is the same verbosity request the end
>> user made via the environment as the one we checked earlier), and I
>> can understand that it feels a bit redundant and ugly.
>
> Yes, you absolutely right.