In a routine move, the company headquartered at One Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California, handed its vast developer community with a new build of the upcoming maintenance and security update to Snow Leopard - Mac OS X 10.6.3 Build 10D538. The seed notes list one known issue, a sign that Mac OS X 10.6.3 is close to the end of its development cycle.

AppleInsider cites people familiar with Friday's beta as saying that “[Mac OS X 10.6.3 Build 10D538] includes an update to QuickTime X that, when finalized, will improve security and compatibility while simultaneously enhancing overall reliability. The release will also include tweaks that aim to enhance the performance of Apple's 64-bit Logic pro audio suite. Other planned improvements include better compatibility with third-party printers and OpenGL-grounded applications, those same people say,” according to these sources.

Apple also released Logic Pro 9.1 recently. The update delivers improved compatibility and numerous fixes. It can be acquired from the company’s Downloads section by entering a valid Logic Pro 9 serial number. As the release notes reveal, issues addressed in the update include: support for 64-bit native mode; compatibility with 64-bit Audio Unit plug-in; file names with over 32 characters are now supported; samples are now mapped correctly when using the “Contiguous Zones” option in the EXS editor.

With Build 10D538 on their hands, developers are now asked to direct their testing skills towards a few other core system components, such as AirPort, VoiceOver and graphics drivers, according to AppleInsider. An issue related to photo albums viewed via the Front Row media center software is said to be the single problem spotted in Mac OS X 10.6.3 so far. People familiar with the ongoing development of Mac OS X 10.6.3 also believe that the release will be made public sometime in the next six weeks, with the current build weighing in at over half a gigabyte.