Mac OS X 10.5.6 is nearly here!

By Stephen Withers
Monday, 17 November 2008 09:28

Opinion and Analysis

The release of Mac OS X 10.5.6 could be just around the corner. The update is slated to deliver wide-ranging fixes to Apple's operating system.

Developer notes accompanying various seed versions of Mac OS X 10.5.6 have been leaked by Portuguese-language web site hmbt.org. Those purportedly accompanying build 9G38 say there are no known issues with the update.

While that does not guarantee that 10.5.6 will arrive in the next few days, it is a sign that the project is not far from completion unless some significant problems are found in the latest changes.

Build 9G38 includes changes to Sync Services, DVI display detection, SuperDrive disc ejection, printing PDF files from Mail, and downloaded playlists.

Apple has asked developers to test three particular areas.

MobileMe syncing is top of the list. Developers are especially asked to test automatic synchronisation on portable computers, on networks with medium to high latency and/or constrained bandwidth, and from behind firewalls.

The AFP (AppleTalk Filing Protocol) implementation has been changed to improve Time Machine reliability. Conditions that may lead to corruption of a Time Machine image should now result in the volume being ejected before damage occurs.

Finally, developers who use non-Latin character sets (as well as non-English Latin character sets) are asked to extensively test Mail for sending messages that use them in any part of the message, including attachments and attachment names.

Apple's request for general testing covers nearly 80 aspects of the system, from Address Book, Bluetooth and CoreAudio to video conferencing, WebDAV and xnu.

Another sign that 10.5.6 could be nearing completion is that build 9G38 was released to developers just a few days after 9G35.