Mac OS X 10.5.8 Build 9L25 Seeded to Devs

It is being reported that Apple has issued yet a new beta build of Mac OS X Leopard to developers, in what looks like the final major update to the OS, before the release of Snow Leopard later this year. It is likely that Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard will be the translation of Mac OS X 10.4.11, the last incremental update Tiger users ever applied.

As Softpedia readers should know, Apple is parallel-testing two separate versions of Mac OS X, one of which should delight fans in September, when it’s released. The other version of Mac OS X being heavily tested by Apple is the current version available, 10.5 Leopard. Seven incremental updates to the software have brought it where it is (Mac OS X 10.5.7), although Apple is not yet satisfied with it, and wants to have one good look at the OS before Snow Leopard leaves it in a trail of dust.

As such, Mac OS X 10.5.8 Build 9L25 (code-named Loki), the latest of several Leopard test builds, has a focus area noticeably distinct from the last, AppleInsider points out, citing lower-level technologies and frameworks that are now in need of greater attention than usual. According to people familiar with the software, build 9L25 no longer asks that developers focus their testing efforts on a small subset of Leopard's components, the source continues to outline. Instead, the focus is now on more than three dozen components that have been isolated into smaller focus groups in earlier betas, the report claims. It is also speculated that Apple is carrying out maintenance on Leopard for the last time.

Lastly, the seed notes allegedly list no known issues. Build 9L25 addresses two new bugs, “one related to saving mail messages as individual message documents and another to URL localization,” the report reads.