linux - Meaning of declarations in /etc/init.d/functions on EL 5 -

i'm of amateur when comes bash shell scripting , baffled first line in killproc() function in /etc/init.d/functions on centos 5.10 system:

local rc killlevel= base pid pid_file= delay try 

what meaning of line? believe declaration of local variables perhaps, meaning of = after couple of items? have included complete killproc() function below reference:

# function stop program. killproc() {     local rc killlevel= base pid pid_file= delay try      rc=0; delay=3; try=0     # test syntax.     if [ "$#" -eq 0 ];         echo $"usage: killproc [-p pidfile] [ -d delay] {program} [-signal]"         return 1     fi     if [ "$1" = "-p" ];         pid_file=$2         shift 2     fi     if [ "$1" = "-d" ];         delay=$(echo $2 | awk -v rs=' ' -v ignorecase=1 '{if($1!~/^[0-9.]+[smhd]?$/) exit 1;d=$1~/s$|^[0-9.]*$/?1:$1~/m$/?60:$1~/h$/?60*60:$1~/d$/?24*60*60:-1;if(d==-1) exit 1;delay+=d*$1} end {printf("%d",delay+0.5)}')         if [ "$?" -eq 1 ];             echo $"usage: killproc [-p pidfile] [ -d delay] {program} [-signal]"             return 1         fi         shift 2     fi       # check second arg kill level     [ -n "${2:-}" ] && killlevel=$2          # save basename.         base=${1##*/}          # find pid.     __pids_var_run "$1" "$pid_file"     if [ -z "$pid_file" -a -z "$pid" ];         pid="$(__pids_pidof "$1")"     fi          # kill it.         if [ -n "$pid" ] ;                 [ "$bootup" = "verbose" -a -z "${lsb:-}" ] && echo -n "$base "         if [ -z "$killlevel" ] ;                if checkpid $pid 2>&1;                # term first, kill if not dead                kill -term $pid >/dev/null 2>&1                usleep 100000                if checkpid $pid ;                 try=0                 while [ $try -lt $delay ] ;                     checkpid $pid || break                     sleep 1                     let try+=1                 done                 if checkpid $pid ;                     kill -kill $pid >/dev/null 2>&1                     usleep 100000                 fi                fi                 fi             checkpid $pid             rc=$?             [ "$rc" -eq 0 ] && failure $"$base shutdown" || success $"$base shutdown"             rc=$((! $rc))         # use specified level         else                 if checkpid $pid;                         kill $killlevel $pid >/dev/null 2>&1                 rc=$?                 [ "$rc" -eq 0 ] && success $"$base $killlevel" || failure $"$base $killlevel"             elif [ -n "${lsb:-}" ];                 rc=7 # program not running             fi         fi     else         if [ -n "${lsb:-}" -a -n "$killlevel" ];             rc=7 # program not running         else             failure $"$base shutdown"             rc=0         fi     fi          # remove pid file if any.     if [ -z "$killlevel" ];             rm -f "${pid_file:-/var/run/$base.pid}"     fi     return $rc } 

it's declaring lot of function scope variables, killlevel , pid_file assigned empty string , others not assigned anything.

there slight difference. local variables visible in functions called function. if happen call killproc() recursively, uninitialized ones remembered caller.

on debian lib/lsb/init-functions file looks this:

killproc() {     local pidfile sig status base name_param is_term_sig optind     pidfile=                                                        name_param=                                                     is_term_sig=