Don't waste your time rewriting almost unmaintainable legacy stuff. Perl actually died because the Perl 6 developers made the mistake to retain compatibility with Perl 5 which was not possible due to its unmaintainability. At first it looked promising but later on it turned out to be impossible. Rust could fall into the same trap by retaining dependency on C/C++.
I would use Rust for a complete startover. Open source development should shift its mentality to support open hardware. This could ensure safety of both hardware and software in the future, and it would attract many developers who want to contribute.
We already have the tools for open hardware: free IP cores, 3D printers, free CAD, equipment for DIY PCB/SMD boards, etc. ... and Rust for bare bone programming.
I would use Rust for a complete startover. Open source development should shift its mentality to support open hardware. This could ensure safety of both hardware and software in the future, and it would attract many developers who want to contribute.
We already have the tools for open hardware: free IP cores, 3D printers, free CAD, equipment for DIY PCB/SMD boards, etc. ... and Rust for bare bone programming.