Devs Indicate Mac OS X 10.6.6 Could Launch Soon

Apple has reportedly seeded the second Mac OS X 10.6.6 test build to its developer community whose members claim to have spotted a “Golden Master” listing. The update arrives four weeks after the initial 10.6.6 seed, when Apple hadn’t even rolled out the public version of Mac OS X 10.6.5 - the current version of its Snow Leopard operating system.

Reports citing developers would indicate that Apple is hurrying to launch the public version of Mac OS X 10.6.6, with testers signaling that build 10J537, seeded Thursday, December 2, is being listed as a Golden Master (GM) version when accessed through the Mac App Store developer program.

However, those accessing the build as regular Mac developers who don’t participate in the Mac App Store Program claim to have spotted no GM designation.

Mac OS X 10.6.6 Build 10J537 reportedly offers "developer support for fetching and renewing App Store receipts."

According to the seed notes included by Apple with the new build, developers are to focus their testing skills on Bonjour, Dock, OpenGL, Printing and Spotlight. The update currently weighs in at 1GB as a combo update, according to a screenshot published by MacRumors.

Mac OS X 10.6.6 is the sixth planned incremental software update to Apple’s Snow Leopard operating system which, just last month, got promoted to version 10.6.5.

The update focused on improving reliability with Microsoft Exchange servers, addressing performance of some image-processing operations in iPhoto and Aperture, as well as stability and performance of graphics apps and games.

The release solved a delay between print jobs, and addressed a printing issue for some HP devices connected to an AirPort Extreme as well.

Reliability with some Bluetooth braille displays was also addressed, while a VoiceOver issue when browsing some web sites with Safari 5 is now resolved, thanks to OS X 10.6.5.