TextMate 2 open sourced

Allan Odgaard, the developer of the popular TextMate text editor for Mac OS X, has open sourced version 2.0 of his software. According to Odgaard, TextMate 2 is still in alpha status, but the source code is now available on GitHub. TextMate 2 was announced as largely completed in June 2009, but users have been waiting on a final release of version 2 ever since; an alpha release was made available in December 2011.

Odgaard explains that he open sourced his code base to give users the ability to "tinker" with his software. He also explains that he chose the GPLv3 licence to prevent proprietary forks of his tool, and points out that he wants to counteract what he perceives as a growing trend by Apple to close down the Mac OS X platform. He does not rule out, however, the possibility that he will re-license the code base under a more liberal licence in the future. He also invites developers to submit pull requests on GitHub and otherwise get involved in the development of the software.

There have been some concerns in the community of TextMate users that this move to an open source code base means that the program will not be actively developed further, but, according to a report by The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), this is not the case and Odgaard has stated that he will continue his work on the program.

The current stable version of the program, TextMate 1.5.11, is still under a proprietary licence and can be purchased from the MacroMates site for €45.63 (£35.92). A licence for educational use is also available free of charge.

(fab)