Just curiosity... this statement on "a variable assigned with a value equal to itself" doesn't make sense to me... Is another case of "bash black magic" that I haven't leant yet? ;)

In addition, is the `xmlPartsPostponed` being actually used in some place in the script? I have seen a place in which it is set with a find/wc, but never actually used after that... Maybe it is here for completeness? Does the same happen with other variables?