Over 100 fixes in 10.5.7; Security Update 2009-002 in testing

[AppleInsider]

Another week has passed and another beta of Mac OS X 10.5.7 has fallen into the hands of Apple developers. Separately, Apple is also beta testing its second security update of the year for certain Mac OS X distributions.

Mac OS X 10.5.7 Juno

Monday evening saw the release of Mac OS X 10.5.7 build 9J44 to developers, according to people familiar with the matter. The new beta arrives a little more than a week after the company issued build 9J39.

Those people with access to the software say the most significant change appears to be the addition of a fix for PDF font render, which along with four other new fixes brings the total number documented code corrections in Mac OS X 10.5.7 to 104.

Similarly, the lone issue affecting the last several builds has been the inability to install Apple's Safari 4 beta, which hasn't been tweaked to run on the new system update.

Mac OS X 10.5.7, code-named Juno, is expected for a release sometime this month. In basic form, it reportedly weighs in at approximately 442MB. A combo updater capable of updating versions of Leopard prior to 10.5.6 and bundling earlier security improvements is currently about 730MB.

Security Update 2009-002

Meanwhile, AppleInsider has also learned that Apple has recently tasked security experts with evaluating its second security update to Mac OS X of the 2009 calendar year.

Appropriately labeled Security Update 2009-002, the release is known to be in testing for versions of the Mac maker's Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" operating system. A version for Leopard hasn't been reported.

People familiar with the situation say Apple doesn't brief its security testers on the improvements it bundles into beta security updates and instead asks them probe for holes blindly. As such, it's not entirely clear what components of Tiger it targets, though the rumor is that it addresses a networking vulnerability.

Apple is expected to recommend the update "for all users" saying it "improves the security of Mac OS X." Four different distributions are currently being evaluated: Tiger client (PPC), Tiger server (PPC), Tiger client (Intel), and Tiger server (Intel).

The latest known builds are reportedly 8S410 (PPC) and 8S2410 (Intel).

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[digitalclips]

The activity rate seems to be speeding up. It can't be long now.

[adamw]

Yes, the general release of 10.5.7 should be with us soon. That should (hopefully) hold us until Snow Leopard is ready

[Cubert]

So, is the inability to install the Safari beta a change that needs to be made to 10.5.7 or to the beta?

Maybe a second Safari beta coming in a week or so?

Ready, set, discuss.....

[zindako]

I hope snow leopard hits before August 2009, I want to enjoy it while the summer is still here :-)

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by adamw

Yes, the general release of 10.5.7 should be with us soon. That should (hopefully) hold us until Snow Leopard is ready

Originally Posted by zindako

I hope snow leopard hits before August 2009, I want to enjoy it while the summer is still here :-)

I think Mid-September release for SL and Leopard being at 10.5.9 at that point will mostly likely occur.

[sapporobabyrtrns]

Originally Posted by zindako

I hope snow leopard hits before August 2009, I want to enjoy it while the summer is still here :-)

Some of us are enjoying it now, but I would not count on summer. Maybe Aug, but more likely end of Sept.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by sapporobabyrtrns

Some of us are enjoying it now, but I would not count on summer. Maybe Aug, but more likely end of Sept.

I still have the latest beta on a partition, but I went back to Leopard. It's still way to buggy and still eats through my battery much faster. I'll give it another go and do some comparative testing once the 64-bit kernel is ready for the unibody MBs.

[ltcommander.data]

Is this the first time Apple has released security updates to developers for testing? I don't seem to remember that ever happening before, only OS point updates. Maybe Apple is taking security more seriously now.

And there isn't a separate Security Update 2009-002 for Leopard because it should be integrated in 10.5.7. All previous OS point updates have included security updates, with them being released separately for the immediate predecessor OS.

[8CoreWhore]

It's called Juno because it's Prego.

[ghostface147]

I thought Juno was a good movie. Hopefully this update is out sooner than later.

[zenwaves]

wonder when Safari 4 beta will give way to a final product ....

[lkrupp]

Originally Posted by zenwaves

wonder when Safari 4 beta will give way to a final product ....

It doesn't really matter because the usual crowd of dimwits will bitch about how they can't install it, or how it crashes, or how they hate the new tab structure, ad infinitum. Just look at an earlier ignorant post in this very thread.

[elroth]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple is expected to recommend the update "for all users" saying it "improves the security of Mac OS X."

I could have told you that.

[bsenka]

Originally Posted by lkrupp

It doesn't really matter because the usual crowd of dimwits will bitch about how they can't install it, or how it crashes, or how they hate the new tab structure, ad infinitum. Just look at an earlier ignorant post in this very thread.

Yeah, I hate people who actually want a quality product. They should just accept crap like everyone else.

[BWhaler]

I wonder if mail will auto-hide now?

I wonder if on the new MBP's when one disconnects from the new Displays if you still have restart the Dock process to get your hot corners to work again.

I wonder....

I, for one, am happy that Apple is getting serious about quality in their OS. Things have gotten pretty bumpy. Now, I just hope that we see that quality attitude extend to the serious issues in the hardware and in the applications--iTunes, laptops, displays, I'm looking at you.

[Oh-es-Ten]

Man... it seems like an age for the 10.5.7 seeding.

At work, we are currently waiting for 10.5.7 with baited breath as we are doing a gold build image and want to wait until this drops before rolling it out. Can't be too long now, thought it would have appeared a week ago.

If anyone does have issues, please make sure you submit a bugreport @ bugreport.apple.com as I have always found that it is acknowledged, noted and actioned there - admittedly some take longer to fix than others. Better than complaining on a forum thread, and wondering why something never gets fixed.

[knightlie]

Originally Posted by italiankid

Apple hasn't fix the Time Machine Errors that are still present in 10.5.6 from 10.5

Hopefully Microsoft can give them a hand on how to correct it.

I think most of us here would rather they didn't.

As bad as you think Microsoft is... Apple does this 7 or so updates to the OS with hundreds of fixes. Even though Microsoft doesn't fix their OS like Apple, I gotta say I am impressed with MS because its stable enough! LOL

Do you have any idea how many fixes MS issues to it's OS in the time it takes Apple to issue one? Have you even seen the constant stream of patches MS send out to fix holes that "allow an attacker to gain control of your computer?"

Only a fool would be impressed with Windows' stability or Microsofts efforts to fix it. Windows is, bug-ridden, covered with badly-applied band-aids.

[MartiNZ]

Originally Posted by BWhaler

I wonder if mail will auto-hide now?

I wonder if on the new MBP's when one disconnects from the new Displays if you still have restart the Dock process to get your hot corners to work again.

I wonder....

I, for one, am happy that Apple is getting serious about quality in their OS. Things have gotten pretty bumpy. Now, I just hope that we see that quality attitude extend to the serious issues in the hardware and in the applications--iTunes, laptops, displays, I'm looking at you.

I'll join you in wondering:
- if my display will stop reverting to the horrible Color LCD calibration and/or just blackness (lowest brightness) almost every time it wakes from sleep/screensaver (this is getting worse);
- if the iTunes dashboard widget will work properly for the first time in the 4+ years it has existed;
- if the menubar will properly keep app focus again, like it did 100% of the time before Leopard;
- if SMB shares will no longer randomly fail to connect.

There is more that I wonder but it slips my mind at the moment; either way Apple knows about it all from feedback submissions - they just chose to ignore them the last six point point updates (and in some cases the major point update and eleven point point updates before that as well).

Looking forward to it - hopefully the much longer than expected time it's taking will make it even better!

[sapporobabyrtrns]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I still have the latest beta on a partition, but I went back to Leopard. It's still way to buggy and still eats through my battery much faster. I'll give it another go and do some comparative testing once the 64-bit kernel is ready for the unibody MBs.

I will be installing this weekend. Interested to see what progress has been made.

[ikir]

Originally Posted by bsenka

Yeah, I hate people who actually want a quality product. They should just accept crap like everyone else.

It is called BETA for a reason. You're wrong, they are just stupid.

[MartiNZ]

Originally Posted by ikir

It is called BETA for a reason. You're wrong, they are just stupid.

Gotta say I think that that was a general point, not just of Safari 4 (beta), which btw I would be damn surprised to see properly released with that awful, inexcusable tabs on top design not on by default - it wouldn't even surprise me if they removed the better option!

As for SL, which seems to have come up, I'm torn between wanting it sooner in the hope that it fixes Leopard's myriad issues, and wanting it later in the hope that it actually fixes Leopard's myriad issues.

The irony is that sitting here on Boot Camped Vista 64, I could very well be being attacked/hacked/whatever, but in terms of things that I notice that negatively affect my experience, there is a lot less to complain about than with Leopard.

[xpc]

I hope SL gets away from these monster sized updates... 730mb yikes... wish they offered burstable bandwidth consumer broadband.... I'd gladly pay for the spikes to 60mbs for the updates (that I have to sit thru, or at least pay attention to), then return to normal programming...

[snottlebocket]

Can't wait for the update. Apparantly 10.5.6 has a memory leak that prevents me from using the software that I bought a mac for properly.

[mhegge64]

Would hope permissions issues are fixed in 10.5.7 server

10.5.6 has been a cluster-xxxxxx