Apple bug finders and fixers may coordinate efforts

Stephen Withers
Monday, 08 January 2007 05:26

Your IT - Home IT

The Month of Apple Bugs' LMH has offered to provide the MoAB Fixes group with advance notice (measured in hours, not days) of each disclosure, giving them a chance to offer a fix at much the same time as each bug is revealed.

According to the transcript of an online conversation between LMH and Landon Fuller - published with both parties' consent - while there was an in-principle agreement to coordinate activities in this way, Fuller was concerned that it might be seen as collusion. He said he would consult the group "and if the reaction isn't staunchly negative, I'm all for it. If there are serious objections, I'd like to keep operating as I have been." At the time of writing only two members had responded and their opinions were divided.

Fuller seems uncomfortable with the attention the project has brought, writing in his blog: "I never expected anyone to notice, and was perfectly comfortable labouring away in quiet obscurity. Lots of people noticed, however."

The 'score' at the end of the first week:

Bug 1: Patched by MoAB Fixes, no fix from Apple

Bug 2: Patched by MoAB Fixes, applicaation updated by VideoLAN

Bug 3: Patched by MoAB Fixes, no fix from Apple

Bug 4: Patched by MoAB Fixes, no fix from Apple

Bug 5: No patch from MoAB Fixes, no fix from Apple, partial workaround by MoAB

Bug 6: Already fixed in Adobe Reader 8, no fix from Apple for Preview

Bug 7: Application updated by Omni