[sv-bc] Errata in SV 3.1a LRM Section 18.2.1: ambiguous phrase "packages must exist" needs to be defined

Section 18.2.1 Referencing data in packages

The first paragraph says "Packages must exist in order for the items they
define to be recognized by the scopes in which they are imported."

This sentence is totally ambiguous. What does "must exist" mean? To me, as
a designer, it means a package definition simply has to exist in my source
code. What does "must exist" mean to software tools, if anything? Does
"must exist" affect compilation order? Can a package be referenced before
it has been read in by the compiler, the way I can reference a task before
it has been read in, and can instantiate a module before it has been read
in?

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Stuart Sutherland Sutherland HDL Inc.
stuart@sutherland-hdl.com 22805 SW 92nd Place
phone: 503-692-0898 Tualatin, OR 97062

Sutherland HDL, Inc. -- Training Engineers to be Verilog, SystemVerilog
and VHDL Wizards! http://www.sutherland-hdl.com
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Received on Wed Sep 1 23:18:42 2004