diff --git a/scripts/release-notes.pl b/scripts/release-notes.pl
index 741235a3e6..331941bc9b 100755
--- a/scripts/release-notes.pl
+++ b/scripts/release-notes.pl
@@ -54,7 +54,10 @@
 #
 ################################################
 
-my $cleanup = ($ARGV[0] eq "cleanup");
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+my $cleanup = (@ARGV && $ARGV[0] eq "cleanup");
 my @gitlog=`git log @^{/RELEASE-NOTES:.synced}..` if(!$cleanup);
 my @releasenotes=`cat RELEASE-NOTES`;
 
@@ -120,6 +123,12 @@ sub extract {
     # false alarm, not a valid line
 }
 
+my @fixes;
+my @closes;
+my @bug;
+my @line;
+my %moreinfo;
+
 my $short;
 my $first;
 for my $l (@gitlog) {
@@ -167,7 +176,7 @@ if($first) {
 # call at the end of a parsed commit
 sub onecommit {
     my ($short)=@_;
-    my $ref;
+    my $ref = '';
 
     if($dupe{$short}) {
         # this git commit message was found in the file