Google has released all the code for its Google Web Toolkit under the Apache 2.0 open source licence. Previously only parts of the application were available as open source software.

Releasing the entire application under an open source licence allows external developers and software vendors to study and tweak the code as well as build enhancements on top of it.

Google launched the developer tool in May this year. The software lets developers transform Java applications into Asynchronous Java and XML (Ajax) code, a technique that is commonly used to build online applications.

Although Google plans to keep control over the development of the application, the search provider promised to closely mimic an open source development process by making the development process more transparent.

The company said that it will post design discussions, feature prioritisation, bug fixing and roadmap information on a mailing list, as well as minutes from internal meetings.