TextMate developer MacroMates announced on Thursday that the code for TextMate 2.0, currently in alpha, is now available via the online GitHub repository. The code is being open sourced in order to counteract what some developers see as Apple's increasingly limiting user and developer freedom on the Mac platform.

TextMate became popular as a developer tool several years ago due to its design, unique text editing features that appealed to coders, and use of cutting-edge OS X technologies. Despite many years of promises, however, TextMate 2.0 still hasn't been released. Developer Allan Odgaard hasn't given up finishing the new version, however, releasing an early public alpha in December 2011.

(Interesting note: Odgaard drew criticism for planning to limit TextMate 2.0 to Leopard-only in 2006, while support for Leopard was dropped in the alpha in February this year.)

Improvements to the code continue to be made, with regular status updates posted to the MacroMates blog. The latest such post reveals that the company has uploaded the current TextMate 2.0 code to a public repository on Github, allowing any interested end user to "tinker with their environment."

MacroMates chose version 3 of the GNU General Public License to prevent closed-source forks while still allowing the code to be freely distributed. At the same time, Odgaard is aware that a less restrictive license might be desired for some parts of the code and will consider revising the license for those parts later.

"The hacker in me wants all software to be free 'as in speech,' so in a time where our platform vendor is taking steps to limit our freedom, this is my small attempt of countering such trend," Odgaard wrote. Those steps are likely a reference to the increased security controls in Mountain Lion, which limits the capabilities of apps distributed via the Mac App Store.

MacroMates did not respond to our request for comment this afternoon.