Mac OS X 10.7.3 Approaching Final Release

Developers testing Apple’s beta software have been handed a new build of Mac OS X 10.7.3 Lion which they’re required to debug with a focus on Address Book, iCal, Mail, Spotlight, and Safari.

According to developer reports, the delta update weighs in at 989.75 MB when applied over OS X 10.7.2 - the current version of Lion. A combo version, that some users will need for updating from any previous version of OS X Lion, is 1.26 GB in size.

While previous 10.7.3 betas have done a good job at indicating Apple’s intentions for the future of the OS (Retina-display support, etc.), this last one offers unquestionable clues that it may just be the final release build.

The news comes from the developers themselves who are telling MacRumors that Build 11D42 is either going to be the golden master (GM) version of OS X 10.7.3, or the one preceding the GM.

Golden Masters are generally the final shipping builds of any piece of Apple software, both on the desktop and on the mobile front.

The seed notes seem to reflect what the actual public release notes will be:

The 10.7.3 update is recommended for all OS X Lion users and includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac including fixes that:

 - Add Catalan, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, and Ukrainian language support
 - Address issues when using smart cards to log into OS X
 - Resolve issues authenticating with directory services
 - Address compatibility issues with Windows file sharing

Visibly missing from the changelog is the security content of the update which Cupertino cannot disclose until the final version of the software is rolled out.

Developers enrolled with Apple’s $99 annual program can download the bits from the Mac Dev center today.