diff --git a/lib/git/repo_index.sh b/lib/git/repo_index.sh
index b3f4005..9edcd24 100644
--- a/lib/git/repo_index.sh
+++ b/lib/git/repo_index.sh
@@ -202,15 +202,16 @@ _git_index_update_all_branches() {
     return
   fi
 
-  local remotes merges branches
+  # zsh 5.0.2 requires local separate to assignment for arrays
+  local remote merge remotes merges branches
   # Get branch configuration from .git/config
   local IFS=$'\n'
   for branch in $($GIT_BINARY branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e 's/.\{2\}\(.*\)/\1/'); do
     # Skip '(no branch)'
     if [[ "$branch" = "(no branch)" ]]; then continue; fi
 
-    local remote=$(git config --get branch.$branch.remote)
-    local merge=$(git config --get branch.$branch.merge)
+    remote=$(git config --get "branch.$branch.remote")
+    merge=$(git config --get "branch.$branch.merge")
 
     # Ignore branch if remote and merge is not configured
     if [[ -n "$remote" ]] && [[ -n "$merge" ]]; then
diff --git a/lib/git/status_shortcuts.sh b/lib/git/status_shortcuts.sh
index 05f8a80..04f0c96 100644
--- a/lib/git/status_shortcuts.sh
+++ b/lib/git/status_shortcuts.sh
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@ git_add_shortcuts() {
 git_silent_add_shortcuts() {
   if [ -n "$1" ]; then
     # Expand args and process resulting set of files.
-    eval "args=$(scmb_expand_args "$@")"  # create $args array
+    local args
+    eval args="$(scmb_expand_args "$@")"  # populate $args array
     for file in "${args[@]}"; do
       # Use 'git rm' if file doesn't exist and 'ga_auto_remove' is enabled.
       if [[ $ga_auto_remove = yes && ! -e $file ]]; then
@@ -108,8 +109,8 @@ git_show_affected_files(){
   done; echo "# "
 }
 
-
 # Allows expansion of numbered shortcuts, ranges of shortcuts, or standard paths.
+# Return a string which can be `eval`ed like: eval args="$(scmb_expand_args "$@")"
 # Numbered shortcut variables are produced by various commands, such as:
 # * git_status_shortcuts()  - git status implementation
 # * git_show_affected_files() - shows files affected by a given SHA1, etc.
@@ -120,7 +121,8 @@ scmb_expand_args() {
     shift
   fi
 
-  local -a args=()  # initially empty array
+  local args
+  args=()  # initially empty array. zsh 5.0.2 from Ubuntu 14.04 requires this to be separated
   for arg in "$@"; do
     if [[ "$arg" =~ ^[0-9]{0,4}$ ]] ; then      # Substitute $e{*} variables for any integers
       if [ -e "$arg" ]; then
@@ -137,14 +139,22 @@ scmb_expand_args() {
       args+=("$arg")
     fi
   done
-  args=$(declare -p args)  # Get $args array as a string which can be `eval`-ed to recreate itself
-  args=${args#*=}  # Remove `typeset -a args=` from beginning of string to allow caller to name variable
-  echo "$args"
+
+  # "declare -p" with zsh 5.0.2 on Ubuntu 14.04 creates a string that it cannot process:
+  # typeset -a args args=(one three six)
+  # There should be a ; between the two "args" tokens
+  # "declare -p" with bash 4.3.11(1) on Ubuntu 14.04 creates a string like:
+  # declare -a a='([0]="a" [1]="b c" [2]="d")'
+  # The RHS of this string is incompatible with zsh 5.0.2 and "eval args="
+
+  # Generate a quoted array string to assign to "eval args="
+  echo "( $(token_quote "${args[@]}") )"
 }
 
 # Expand a variable (named by $2) into a (possibly relative) pathname
 _print_path() {
-  local pathname=$(eval printf '%s' "\"\${$2}\"")
+  local pathname
+  pathname=$(eval printf '%s' "\"\${$2}\"")
   if [ "$1" = 1 ]; then  # print relative
     pathname=${pathname#$PWD/}  # Remove $PWD from beginning of the path
   fi
@@ -154,7 +164,8 @@ _print_path() {
 # Execute a command with expanded args, e.g. Delete files 6 to 12: $ ge rm 6-12
 # Fails if command is a number or range (probably not worth fixing)
 exec_scmb_expand_args() {
-  eval "args=$(scmb_expand_args "$@")"  # create $args array
+  local args
+  eval "args=$(scmb_expand_args "$@")"  # populate $args array
   _safe_eval "${args[@]}"
 }
 
@@ -177,7 +188,8 @@ git_clear_vars() {
 _git_resolve_merge_conflict() {
   if [ -n "$2" ]; then
     # Expand args and process resulting set of files.
-    eval "args=$(scmb_expand_args "$@")"  # create $args array
+    local args
+    eval "args=$(scmb_expand_args "$@")"  # populate $args array
     for file in "${args[@]:2}"; do
       git checkout "--$1""s" "$file"   # "--$1""s" is expanded to --ours or --theirs
       git add "$file"
diff --git a/lib/git/tools.sh b/lib/git/tools.sh
index e5e2c5d..c158a77 100644
--- a/lib/git/tools.sh
+++ b/lib/git/tools.sh
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ git_remove_history() {
       return
   fi
   # Remove all paths passed as arguments from the history of the repo
+  local files
   files=("$@")
   $_git_cmd filter-branch --index-filter "$_git_cmd rm -rf --cached --ignore-unmatch ${files[*]}" HEAD
   # Remove the temporary history git-filter-branch otherwise leaves behind for a long time
@@ -142,4 +143,4 @@ git_branch_delete_all() {
 
 commit_docs() {
   git commit -m "Update README / Documentation [ci skip]"
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/lib/scm_breeze.sh b/lib/scm_breeze.sh
index c9cb87e..2744b00 100644
--- a/lib/scm_breeze.sh
+++ b/lib/scm_breeze.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ _alias() {
 # Quote the contents of "$@"
 function token_quote {
     # Older versions of {ba,z}sh don't support the built-in quoting, so fall back to printf %q
-  local quoted=()
+  local quoted
+  quoted=()  # Assign separately for zsh 5.0.2 of Ubuntu 14.04
   for token; do
     quoted+=( "$(printf '%q' "$token")" )
   done
diff --git a/run_tests.sh b/run_tests.sh
index 8827f8b..c0a3149 100755
--- a/run_tests.sh
+++ b/run_tests.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ if [ -z "$TEST_SHELLS" ]; then
 fi
 echo "== Will run all tests with following shells: ${TEST_SHELLS}"
 
-builtin cd -P -- "${0%/*}"  # Change to directory this script lives in
+cd -P -- "${0%/*}"  # Change to directory this script lives in
 for test in $(find test/lib -name *_test.sh); do
   for shell in $TEST_SHELLS; do
     echo "== Running tests with [$shell]: $test"
diff --git a/test/lib/git/status_shortcuts_test.sh b/test/lib/git/status_shortcuts_test.sh
index 0cbf23b..d8b9e47 100755
--- a/test/lib/git/status_shortcuts_test.sh
+++ b/test/lib/git/status_shortcuts_test.sh
@@ -52,19 +52,19 @@ test_scmb_expand_args() {
   local e1="one" e2="two" e3="three" e4="four" e5="five" e6="six" e7='$dollar' e8='two words'
   local error="Args not expanded correctly"
   assertEquals "$error" 'one three six' \
-    "$(eval a=$(scmb_expand_args 1 3 6); token_quote "${a[@]}")"
+    "$(eval args="$(scmb_expand_args 1 3 6)"; token_quote "${args[@]}")"
   assertEquals "$error" 'one two three five' \
-    "$(eval a=$(scmb_expand_args 1-3 5); token_quote "${a[@]}")"
+    "$(eval args="$(scmb_expand_args 1-3 5)"; token_quote "${args[@]}")"
   assertEquals "$error" '\$dollar two three four one' \
-    "$(eval a=$(scmb_expand_args 7 2-4 1); token_quote "${a[@]}")"
+    "$(eval args="$(scmb_expand_args 7 2-4 1)"; token_quote "${args[@]}")"
 
   # Test that any args with spaces remain quoted
   assertEquals "$error" '-m Test\ Commit\ Message one' \
-    "$(eval a=$(scmb_expand_args -m "Test Commit Message" 1); token_quote "${a[@]}")"
+    "$(eval args="$(scmb_expand_args -m "Test Commit Message" 1)"; token_quote "${args[@]}")"
   assertEquals "$error" '-ma Test\ Commit\ Message Unquoted'\
-    "$(eval a=$(scmb_expand_args -ma "Test Commit Message" "Unquoted"); token_quote "${a[@]}")"
+    "$(eval args="$(scmb_expand_args -ma "Test Commit Message" "Unquoted")"; token_quote "${args[@]}")"
   assertEquals "$error" '\$dollar one two\ words' \
-    "$(eval a=$(scmb_expand_args 7 1-1 8); token_quote "${a[@]}")"
+    "$(eval args="$(scmb_expand_args 7 1-1 8)"; token_quote "${args[@]}")"
 
   # Keep this code for use when minimum versions of {ba,z}sh can be increased.
   # See token_quote() source and https://github.com/scmbreeze/scm_breeze/issues/260
@@ -89,14 +89,14 @@ test_scmb_expand_args() {
 test_exec_scmb_expand_args() {
   local e1="one" e2="a b c" e3='$dollar' e4="single'quote" e5='double"quote' e6='a(){:;};a&'
   assertEquals "literals with spaces not preserved" 'foo bar\ baz' \
-    "$(eval a="$(scmb_expand_args foo 'bar baz')"; token_quote "${a[@]}")"
+    "$(eval args="$(scmb_expand_args foo 'bar baz')"; token_quote "${args[@]}")"
   assertEquals "variables with spaces not preserved" 'one a\ b\ c' \
-    "$(eval a="$(scmb_expand_args 1-2)"; token_quote "${a[@]}")"
+    "$(eval args="$(scmb_expand_args 1-2)"; token_quote "${args[@]}")"
   # Expecting text: '$dollar' "single'quote" 'double"quote'
   # Generate quoted expected string with:  token_quote "$(cat)"  then copy/paste, ^D
   assertEquals "special characters are preserved" \
     '\$dollar single\'\''quote double\"quote a\(\)\{:\;\}\;a\&' \
-    "$(eval a="$(scmb_expand_args 3-6)"; token_quote "${a[@]}")"
+    "$(eval args="$(scmb_expand_args 3-6)"; token_quote "${args[@]}")"
 
   # Keep this code for use when minimum versions of {ba,z}sh can be increased.
   # See token_quote() source and https://github.com/scmbreeze/scm_breeze/issues/260