I see both sides of the argument around here.
First and foremost, don't break the existing API. We don't get much new software, so the old stuff needs to continue working.
Realistically, we even need a few of the bugs if the original author won't or can't update the software to be compatible with fixed versions of the library. Obviously this needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis, but you get my point.
If there was actual movement by the software owners, then I'd be protecting them, but it's effectively, if not legally, abandoned.
If any of the owners still care, they really need to speak up and tell us who owns what, how to submit bugs and where to send money if needed. If you're inaccessible or invisible, don't complain when someone patches your code behind your back. Maybe someone should start a page for that kind of contact information.
If they don't care to accept bug reports and continue development, then I have no sympathy for their copyright protections. Morally I'm completely fine with whatever happens to abandoned code, including my own.
Beyond that, I'm all for what Cosmos is doing.
When you've got no C source, the disassembly is the only source available and he's making it readable.
While the speedups are good, assuming they translate to real world benchmark proven results, I think the most important and measurable improvement he's making is optimizing the size. We've only got so much ROM space so the more we can pack into there, the better. Removing C translation cruft is an easy way to reduce the size.
If he fixes some bugs without side effects, that's even better.
With the language barrier it's a little hard to tell if we're interpreting him correctly, but clearly his heart is in the right place and he's actually contributing to the community.
I applaud anyone who actually contributes, but damn we're an angry, uncooperative group of people.