The hotly anticipated Amazon Kindle Fire started shipping ahead of schedule this week, but that’s not the only good news. Amazon is being extra nice to its newfound tablet-owning customers, because it has just released the source code to the Kindle Fire. Go ahead and check it out, line by line.

To be fair, this didn’t exactly come flying out of left field. Amazon has already released the source code for its other e-readers, including the Kindle Touch, Kindle Wi-Fi, Kindle DX, and Kindle Keyboard. This simply follows in that tradition, but it does demonstrate that Amazon could be more forward-thinking than some of its other Android-touting competition.

With the release of the source code, the development community can now get down to work with developing custom ROMs, unique tablet UIs, and other customizations to make the Kindle Fire all that it can be. We’ve already heard about people rooting the tablet and side-loading apps; the availability of the source code will make these kinds of developments even easier. CyanogenMod will surely be released soon for the Kindle Fire.

If you’re hot to tinker with the Kindle Fire, you’ll find its source code on Amazon.com. Just remember that you do so at your own risk. Playing with fire could get you burned, after all.