Why use a GPL license ? This kind of port could have been the occasion to get rid of this type of license.
Why port Emacs to Rust ?, it adds no value to users. Why not develop a modern GUI like Intellij IDEA with a Common Lisp implementation underneath like SBCL ?
If you changed the license you'd have to do a clean room implementation, and even then deal with potential legal issues from the... personalities... associated with the GPL.
You mean the author who wrote his own license to specify how his work may be distributed?
Any person who write their own license to specify in fine details how the work may be used and distributed is going to have a very strong (and likely legal) issue with people who try to circumvent that license. Even a clean room implementation would need source material as instructions, and writing such specification without any copyrighted elements of the source would be quite a challenge when dealing with a very large program that has compatibility to a large ecosystem as its primary feature.
> "Whereas IBM's PC (and almost all PC compatibles) had a power supply in a corner of the main case, the PC1512's power supply was integrated with that of its monitor. The monitor had sufficient venting to cool itself by convection, instead of needing a fan. The PC1512 was therefore quieter than other PCs. Rumours circulated that an Amstrad PC would overheat, and while existing owners would note that this did not happen, new buyers were discouraged. As a result, later models had a cooling fan integrated into the main case."
I was in the same mood. Now I 've stopped coding for a living (you can try management, presales,...) and at home I do what I like (exploring data structures and algorithms) with the tools (Emacs) and languages I like (Common Lisp)
