Package methods can't be used before their declaration

Non-Oracle mode.

The following package can be created without errors:

CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS test;

USE test;

DELIMITER ||

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE ctr

  FUNCTION a() RETURNS INT;

END;

||

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY ctr

  FUNCTION a() RETURNS INT

  BEGIN

    RETURN b();

  END;

  FUNCTION b() RETURNS INT

  BEGIN

    RETURN 1;

  END;

END;

||

DELIMITER ;

But calling a() returns an error:

MariaDB [test]> SELECT ctr.a();

ERROR 1305 (42000): FUNCTION test.b does not exist

This happens because b() was not defined before the line that calls it.

You can verify that the code works if you invert a() and b() code, or if you declare b() in CREATE PACKAGE.

This error makes it impossible to have two mutually recursive private methods.