[4.4.5] trouble declaring readonly array variables

[Laur Aliste]

Hi,
upgraded bash from
GNU bash, version 4.3.30(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
to 4.4.5(1)-release and noticed the readonly array variables fail to be defined with init values.

See sample snippet:

o() {
    local i j
    readonly i=($1)
    readonly j=(1 2 3)
    echo "passed args expanded in arr declar: '${i[*]}'"
    echo "args in an arr: '${j[*]}'"
}

$ o "a b c"
passed args expanded in arr declar: ''
args in an arr: ''


Platform:
Linux 8570w 4.6.0-1-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.6.4-1 (2016-07-18) x86_64 GNU/Linux

Is this a feature or a bug?

Thanks in advance,

Laur Aliste