More than a week after Apple seeded the first 10.5.4 build to developers, the Cupertino-based Mac maker has issued a second build of the latest maintenance update for Leopard users. The build, 9E12, weighs in at around 150MB and asks devs to focus on 21 areas, most notably iLife compatibility, printing, networking, AirPort, Mail, iCal, and iChat, according to World of Apple.

A noteworthy bug fix, among the 12 revealed in the seed notes, is the "hang on shutdown" fix, the aforementioned source points out.

Mac OS X 10.5.4 build 9E12 seed notes:

Known Issues

- None

Focus Areas

- AirPort
- AFP
- Active Directory/Directory Services
- CFNetwork
- CoreFoundation
- CoreGraphics
- DirectoryService
- Expose
- iCal
- iChat
- iLife
- IPSec
- Keychain
- Mail
- Networking
- ppp
- printing
- ruby
- samba
- Security
- Spaces
- Spaces pref
- xnu

Areas of Change

New issues fixed in this seed:

- https and basic authentication compatibility fix
- NSURLConnection now times out
- NavCreatePutFileDialog crash fix
- DS: dsReleaseContinueData incorrectly returning -14072
- All windows are now shown in expose
- iCal version number fix
- Racoon and IPSec compatibility fixes
- Hang at shutdown fix
- Identity preference not remembered if cert is located on a smartcard
- DoD/SmartCard certificates now presented to DoD web sites
- Finder and switching spaces fixes
- Can now assign applications to Spaces by dragging from app list again

Mac OS X seed notes also include issues fixed in previous seeds, in this case, the first 10.5.4 build issued by Apple at WWDC last week. They are listed as follows:

Issues fixed in previous seeds:

- LEAP connection in Airport 802.1x
- Saving and re-opening of some third-party application files on a remote server
- No HTTP header sometimes when using persistent connection
- Decoding support for some cameras
- Misc iCal fixes

Let's not forget that 10.5.4, although just a maintenance update, will bring the new MobileMe service, Apple's .Mac replacement, which will allow users to sync contacts, email, and calendar across multiple devices, as well as a web app accessible anywhere.

MobileMe will require Mac OS X 10.5.4 with iTunes 7.7. 10.4.11 users will also be able to use the service, but not to the extent of Leopard users: "some features require Mac OS X v10.5 and iLife '08," the requirements say.

Mac OS X 10.5.4 is expected to be released early next month, before MobileMe drops on July 11.