Apple Rolls Out Surprise OS X Updates

Without offering a single sign that new OS X builds were in development, Apple has released new versions of OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion and OS X 10.7.5 Lion as “supplemental” updates to the general population.

Launched via Software Update and through Apple Support Downloads last night, OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 Supplemental Update targets all users running OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.2 and includes a bunch of fixes.

For example, it resolves an issue that may cause certain Japanese characters to appear incorrectly in Mail, and allows Safari to access secure sites when parental controls are enabled.

Systems with more than 64 GB of RAM should no longer experience start-up issues, and the bugs causing DVD Player to unexpectedly quit have been addressed too.

Available as a free download, OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 Supplemental Update is available through the Mac App Store’s Updates section, Apple Support Downloads, and the download link below. The DMG file comes in at 26.65 MB.

Download OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 Supplemental Update (Free)

On the Lion front, the OS X 10.7.5 Supplemental Update is recommended for all users running the original OS X Lion 10.7.5 release from Apple.

This is also a bug-fix release that resolves an issue with Time Machine backups taking a very long time to complete, as well as an issue that prevented certain applications signed with a Developer ID from launching.

Apple carefully points out that “The Supplemental Update is recommended if you installed the Mac OS X Lion v10.7.5 Update (build 11G56). It is not needed if you install the Mac OS X Lion v10.7.5 Update (build 11G63),” says the Mac maker.

The Lion update is notably smaller than the Mountain Lion release. OS X Lion 10.7.5 Supplemental Update weighs in at just 2MB, according to Apple.

Download OS X Lion 10.7.5 Supplemental Update (Free)