Similar process was in use during transition to IA and probably to x86-64 now.
Pure magic, indeed!
"ULTRIX MIPS Translation The translator that converts ULTRIX MIPS programs to DEC OSF/1 AXP programs is called mx. The mx project started after VEST was functional, and we took advantage of the VEST common code base for much of the analysis and Alpha AXP code assembly phases of the translator. In fact, about half of the code in mx is compiled from the same source files as those used for VEST, with some architectural specifics supplied by different include files. The C+ + language has proven quite valuable in this regard. "
This might be the ancient ancestor of the technology that Apple uses to run x86 binaries on their M1 ARM-based chips.
Surely such an ancestor would be based on Apple's 68k->PPC transition in the mid-90s or its PPC->x64 transition in the 00s.
Do you not think Apple looked at the prior art before writing that translator? Of course they did.
"Great artists steal" -- indeed they do.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_(software)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Binary_Compatibility_S...
I really wish they had done PA-RISC. I still have some orphaned software on that platform.
It looks like Rosetta emerged from Quick Transit, and was eventually borged into IBM.