alt Hacker NewsWasn't this already a thing in the past?
e.g.
Team A:
- reads the code
- writes specifications and tests based on the code
- gives those specifications to Team B
Team B:
- reads the specs and the tests
- writes new code based on the above
The thinking being that Team B never sees the code then it's "innovative" and you are not "laundering" the code.
On a side note:
what happens in a copyright lawsuit concerning code and how hired experts investigate what happened is described in this AMAZING talk by Dave Beazley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ4Sn-Y7AP8
Yep , as i recall this was the original 'clean room' implementattion that was made with regard to IBM clones and the BIOS program that was used to initialize them.
Also a few years bcak theer was the csae of SAP(?) i tthink where they did a reimplementation indipendently via the design documents.
Those two were upheld on litigation and bear out to this day.
This case however is neither a clean room implementation nor relicensable.
A good example if the author had wanted to be correct would have been the sudo rewrite , which ubuntu is doing with their sudo-rs in rust.Not bug for bug compatible as they have already deviated from some usablility choices but more valid than this.