[vhdl-200x-ft] std_logic_textio read

I'm writing test vectors for some of the base packages now.
I was working through some of the error messages spit out
of the "std_logic_textio" routines, which we now have a part
of std_logic_1164.

I was working with the "read" routine, which has this signature:

   procedure READ (L : inout LINE; VALUE : out STD_ULOGIC_VECTOR; GOOD : out
BOOLEAN);

If an error is hit, GOOD is false, but no value is ever assigned
to "VALUE". Thus if you do the following:

     L := new string'("");
     checknum := (others => '-');
     read (L, checknum, checkbool);

The result you get will be "------", with GOOD false.

Question for the group:
Is this a bug or a feature?

-- 
David W. Bishop dbishop@vhdl.org       All standard disclaimers apply.