Mac OS X 10.5.7 Build 9J50 Indicates Imminent Release

Just four days after the release of Mac OS X 10.5.7 Build 9J47, Apple has seeded members of its developer connection with a new beta build of the software. Reportedly, OS X 10.5.7, now packing over a hundred tweaks and fixes, should be released in a matter of days.

Going by the seed notes for Build 9J50, Apple is ready for a public release of Mac OS X 10.5.7 (code-named Juno), the seventh maintenance and security update to Leopard. AppleInsider reports that developers received Mac OS X 10.5.7 build 9J47 on Friday, which arrived just four days after build 9J44, while build 9J50 was available for download on Tuesday evening this week, again just four days after the previous seed. This, coupled with very few changes between the last two seeds, as well as the listing of a single known issue for several builds now, indicates that Mac OS X 10.5.7 is on track for a release very soon.

As usual, World of Apple was able to produce the seed notes for the latest Leopard test build. Those can be found below, including known issues, focus areas and areas of change, excluding issues fixed in previous seeds.

Known Issues
Safari 4 Beta only installs on Mac OS X 10.5.6.

General Focus Areas
AFP;
AirPort;
Bluetooth;
Directory Services;
FileSync;
Flash Player;
GraphicsDrivers;
Help Viewer;
iCal;
iDisk Synching;
Mail;
Managed Client;
MobileMe Synching;
Networking;
Parental Controls;
Perl;
Printing;
Safari;
Screen Sharing;
Sound;
Time Machine;
USB & Flash Drives;
VPN;
Widgets;
X11.

Areas of Change
Fixed issue with Bluetooth Personal Area Network (PAN).

A combo update is reportedly also being worked on. The package is to be downloaded and installed on versions of Leopard prior to 10.5.6, adding security improvements released by Apple in the past, according to an older AppleInsider report. A “Security Update 2009-002,” said to address “Tiger” issues, is also being worked on, the same source revealed last week. Based on these reports and others like them, Mac OS X 10.5.7, code-named Juno, should momentarily appear in our Macs' Software Update.