avr-gcc and static initializers
In the avr-gcc FAQ, the question “Shouldn’t I initialize all my variables?” gives a hint why your nonzero static initializers aren’t working:
[G]lobal and static variables that have an initializer go into the .data section of the file.
I had been seeing static variables without a declared assignment correctly initialized to zero, but any nonzero initialization didn’t seem to be doing anything. But reading the FAQ led me to examine my makefile, where I found this interesting section:
%.hex : main.obj $(OBJ2HEX) -j .text -O ihex $< $@
Aha! So avr-gcc was likely putting the initialized variables into .data, but I was omitting that section when generating the Intel hexfile. Adding another -j section for .data fixed it.