diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7f40f76739..9ea2e50bb8 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -431,6 +431,10 @@ all::
 #
 # When cross-compiling, define HOST_CPU as the canonical name of the CPU on
 # which the built Git will run (for instance "x86_64").
+#
+# Define DEVELOPER to enable more compiler warnings. Compiler version
+# and family are auto detected, but could be overridden by defining
+# COMPILER_FEATURES (see config.mak.dev)
 
 GIT-VERSION-FILE: FORCE
 	@$(SHELL_PATH) ./GIT-VERSION-GEN
@@ -439,15 +443,6 @@ GIT-VERSION-FILE: FORCE
 # CFLAGS and LDFLAGS are for the users to override from the command line.
 
 CFLAGS = -g -O2 -Wall
-DEVELOPER_CFLAGS = -Werror \
-	-Wdeclaration-after-statement \
-	-Wno-format-zero-length \
-	-Wold-style-definition \
-	-Woverflow \
-	-Wpointer-arith \
-	-Wstrict-prototypes \
-	-Wunused \
-	-Wvla
 LDFLAGS =
 ALL_CFLAGS = $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS)
 ALL_LDFLAGS = $(LDFLAGS)
@@ -1047,7 +1042,7 @@ include config.mak.uname
 -include config.mak
 
 ifdef DEVELOPER
-CFLAGS += $(DEVELOPER_CFLAGS)
+include config.mak.dev
 endif
 
 comma := ,
diff --git a/config.mak.dev b/config.mak.dev
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..716a14ecc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config.mak.dev
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+CFLAGS += -Werror
+CFLAGS += -Wdeclaration-after-statement
+CFLAGS += -Wno-format-zero-length
+CFLAGS += -Wold-style-definition
+CFLAGS += -Woverflow
+CFLAGS += -Wpointer-arith
+CFLAGS += -Wstrict-prototypes
+CFLAGS += -Wunused
+CFLAGS += -Wvla
+
+ifndef COMPILER_FEATURES
+COMPILER_FEATURES := $(shell ./detect-compiler $(CC))
+endif
+
+ifneq ($(filter clang4,$(COMPILER_FEATURES)),)
+CFLAGS += -Wtautological-constant-out-of-range-compare
+endif
+
+ifneq ($(or $(filter gcc6,$(COMPILER_FEATURES)),$(filter clang4,$(COMPILER_FEATURES))),)
+CFLAGS += -Wextra
+# if a function is public, there should be a prototype and the right
+# header file should be included. If not, it should be static.
+CFLAGS += -Wmissing-prototypes
+# These are disabled because we have these all over the place.
+CFLAGS += -Wno-empty-body
+CFLAGS += -Wno-missing-field-initializers
+CFLAGS += -Wno-sign-compare
+CFLAGS += -Wno-unused-function
+CFLAGS += -Wno-unused-parameter
+endif
+
+# uninitialized warnings on gcc 4.9.2 in xdiff/xdiffi.c and config.c
+# not worth fixing since newer compilers correctly stop complaining
+ifneq ($(filter gcc4,$(COMPILER_FEATURES)),)
+ifeq ($(filter gcc5,$(COMPILER_FEATURES)),)
+CFLAGS += -Wno-uninitialized
+endif
+endif
diff --git a/detect-compiler b/detect-compiler
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..70b754481c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/detect-compiler
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Probe the compiler for vintage, version, etc. This is used for setting
+# optional make knobs under the DEVELOPER knob.
+
+CC="$*"
+
+# we get something like (this is at least true for gcc and clang)
+#
+# FreeBSD clang version 3.4.1 (tags/RELEASE...)
+get_version_line() {
+	$CC -v 2>&1 | grep ' version '
+}
+
+get_family() {
+	get_version_line | sed 's/^\(.*\) version [0-9][^ ]* .*/\1/'
+}
+
+get_version() {
+	get_version_line | sed 's/^.* version \([0-9][^ ]*\) .*/\1/'
+}
+
+print_flags() {
+	family=$1
+	version=$(get_version | cut -f 1 -d .)
+
+	# Print a feature flag not only for the current version, but also
+	# for any prior versions we encompass. This avoids needing to do
+	# numeric comparisons in make, which are awkward.
+	while test "$version" -gt 0
+	do
+		echo $family$version
+		version=$((version - 1))
+	done
+}
+
+case "$(get_family)" in
+gcc)
+	print_flags gcc
+	;;
+clang)
+	print_flags clang
+	;;
+"FreeBSD clang")
+	print_flags clang
+	;;
+"Apple LLVM")
+	print_flags clang
+	;;
+*)
+	: unknown compiler family
+	;;
+esac