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TextMate 2 goes open source
Allan Odgaard announced today that the upcoming TextMate 2 (the next version of development text editor TextMate for the Mac, a commercial product that costs US$49) is now open source software, and is available on GitHub for those who wish to contribute. The application is covered under version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GPL). From his announcement: I've always wanted to allow end-users to tinker with their environment, my ability to do this is what got me excited about programming in the first place, and it is why I created the bundles concept, but there are limits to how much a bundle can do, and with the still growing user base, I think the best move forward is to open source the program. I had a chance to briefly chat with Allan today, and he told me that he will continue to be an active developer on TextMate; it was not a lack of personal time that pushed him to this decision. He is NOT abandoning TextMate to an open source wasteland -- he truly hopes and believes this approach will be better for everyone. A TextMate bundle developer I spoke with is developing a "wait and see" approach, as in waiting to see if the community takes on the application itself (there is already community support around bundles, an architecture that allows customization of what TextMate can do). There's hope that the existing TextMate community (all those people you know who swear someone could conquer the world with the right combination of text files) will embrace this. That being said, not every Open Source project gets a lot of love which is actually backed up by contributed code and ideas. I'm an optimist, so I hope this does speed along development and turn TextMate 2 into something really special that text file geeks everywhere can appreciate. I couldn't bring myself to make the jump to version 2 while it was alpha; I'm still using version 1.5, even to write this post. If you have a creative use for TextMate, let us know in the comments.
TUAW Interview series with Allan Odgaard: The Leopard delay - does it change anything?
Finishing up my interview series with notable Mac OS X developers is Allan Odgaard of Macromates, makers of the most excellent TextMate text and code manipulation app. Allan now joins Brent Simmons, Wil Shipley, Paul Kafasis and Gus Mueller in sharing some thoughts with us on the delay of Mac OS X Leopard, the iPhone and what it's like to develop on the bleeding edge.Read on for my interview with Allan Odgaard.
TextMate AutoTag bundle for WordPress
In the market of Mac users who have text to edit, TextMate has become one of the household names that we turn to the most. Likewise for the blogging world, few - if any - services come to mind before WordPress. Brett Terpstra of Circle Six Design knows this, and that is why his AutoTag Bundle for TextMate seems to be such a match made in nerdy blogging heaven. Brett's AutoTag bundle works with WordPress 2.1 and its Ultimate Tag Warrior plugin to present a window (pictured) containing all the tags you've used on your WordPress blog; perfect for tagging your posts on the fly and helping you to keep your tag system tidy. But one might ask: what is an AutoTag plugin without some auto action, right? AutoTag can tag your post for you by scanning what you've written and comparing it against your tag database. Simply type 'auto' and press tab to watch the magic happen. And as if that wasn't enough, AutoTag even has a command for suggesting new tags, again based on a scan of your post's content or even Yahoo's Tag Suggestion feature. With all this clever 'auto' functionality going on, let's just hope Brett's next plugin isn't called 'AutoBlog,' or we might all be in trouble. To give your TextMate + WordPress workflow a tagging boost, you simply need to install a UTW-RPC plugin for WordPress (available with the AutoTag bundle) in order for TextMate to access your database of tags. Setup is really simple, but be sure to download the version of AutoTag that corresponds to the version of TextMate you're running, i.e. - Cutting-Edge or the regular version available from the Macromates site. The AutoTag bundle and UTW-RPC WordPress plugin are open source and available from Circle Six Design.
