Mac OS X 10.6.5 On Its Way to Customers This Fall

Developers have been handed the first build of the fifth maintenance update to Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Labeled 10H525, the build requires testers to focus their skills on iCal, Mail, printing, OpenGL 3D Graphics, QuickTime and the X Window X11 subsystems.

Reports from two reliable sources indicate that Apple has recently seeded Mac OS X 10.6.5 10H525, the first of an unknown number of builds aimed at improving the company’s Snow Leopard operating system.

Developers report that Apple has instructed them to focus on testing iCal, Mail, printing, OpenGL 3D Graphics, QuickTime and X11.

The build itself incorporates fixes to some existing problems with Exchange Server support, according to AppleInsider.

User interface issues with embedded WebKit views have reportedly been addressed as well, specifically in applications such as iTunes.

Finally, the build includes the graphics drivers delivered in the Snow Leopard Graphics Update seeded to developers earlier this month, the source notes.

A report by MacRumors has additional details about the build, namely the known issues documented in the seed notes for Build 10H525.

Specifically, the issues are related to activating user interface elements in Web Views. Examples are the iTunes Store, and errors with connecting to Exchange servers, the rumor site notes.

It is believed Mac OS X 10.6.5 will drop this fall.

Although AppleInsider fails to mention where this indication comes from, it is reasonable to assume Cupertino will not take more than three months to spit out the fifth major incremental update to Snow Leopard.

The latest Snow Leopard maintenance release - OS X 10.6.4 - arrived in mid-June, soon after Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

Although the update fixed several important issues, including a hefty number of security holes, 10.6.4 also produced incompatibilities with NVIDIA-equipped Macs.

Steam gamers, for example, reported visual defects with their games immediately after applying the 10.6.4 update, with Valve soon confirming the problem.

It was believed Apple would release an update to specifically target these issues - the aforementioned Snow Leopard Graphics Update.

It now seems that the drivers in question will only be available with the release of Mac OS X 10.6.5.