Aug 23, 2011 11:56 GMT  ·  By

Opera 11.51 is an interim update that Opera Software will release ahead of launching the next major version of its browser, Opera 12.0 codenamed Wahoo. Early adopters can already download the first Release Candidate (RC) of Opera 11.51, an update to Opera 11.50 which was developed under the codename Swordfish.

According to Ruarí Ødegaard from the Opera Desktop Team, Opera 11.51 is designed to bring to the table a collection of fixes for bugs affecting Opera 11.50 users.

“Whilst we continue work towards Opera 12.00 (Wahoo), there are some important bugs we need to fix in the 11.50 (Swordfish) line. Hence there will be an 11.51 maintenance/stability release between 11.50 and 12.00,” Ødegaard revealed.

Testers are encouraged to download Opera 11.51 RC Build 1084 and take the development snapshot out for a spin.

The Norway-based browser vendor is interested in feedback from early adopters, especially around any potential regression issues that they come across.

“We won't be releasing "Opera Next" packages of this build as it is an update to the stable browser and should not be installed over Opera Next Wahoo packages, since that would effectively be a downgrade (which is never supported),” Ødegaard added.

“Try this out as an improved stable Opera, whilst you continue to test our latest features and improvements in the continuing Wahoo Opera Next snapshot series! Remember as this is a maintenance update we are only interested in regressions since 11.50!”

Opera 12.0 codenamed Wahoo continues to be in development at this point in time, with Opera Software having released the last testing Build last week.

At this point in time there’s no telling when Opera 11.51 and Opera 12.0 will be ready for end users, but as I’ve already said, customers will get the v11.51 stability update ahead of the next major iteration of the browser.

Opera 12.00 Codenamed Wahoo Pre-Alpha for Windows is available for download here.

Opera 12.00 Codenamed Wahoo Pre-Alpha for Mac is available for download here.

Opera 12.00 Codenamed Wahoo Pre-Alpha for Linux is available for download here.

Opera 11.50 Final for Windows is available for download here.

Opera 11.50 Final for Mac is available for download here.

Opera 11.50 Final for Linux is available for download here.