Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.3 Has Landed

jaymus of dawning writes with word that, as promised, "Apple has just released the latest major revision of OS X. The update yields improvements to tons of system components and applications including the Software Update system, Address Book, AirPort, Automater, iCal, iChat, Mail, Parental Controls, Spaces, Time Machine and VoiceOver. This release contains 200 bug fixes from 10.5.2. See Apple's release page for all the delicious details."

It's 9D34

[TJamieson]

Just like yesterday's test build.

freakin scary, that was

[Gewalt]

During install, my MBP restarted an additional time or two. I thought for a minute there that I was gonna have to restore from a week old super dupe. Alas, on the third startup, it actually started.

Re:freakin scary, that was

[BarryJacobsen]

During install, my MBP restarted an additional time or two. I thought for a minute there that I was gonna have to restore from a week old super dupe. Alas, on the third startup, it actually started.

Well, the update was 420mb; it's understandable that you'd need to wait a little for the smoke to clear :P

Kidding aside, this is semi-common with OS X updates. Usually if it doesn't require an extra reboot, the reboot it does do takes a few extra minutes. I'm guessing that since this update is

Re:freakin scary, that was

[jaredmauch]

I have 3 macs two got the 198M update one got the 420M. Odd, they're all intel and I don't immediately know why the variance.

The dual-reboot thing has gotten to be more common than in the past, the first time it happened i freaked out thinking the box ate itself. Just worrying when it happens for the first time. And a reminder to do a backup before any upgrades :).

No Server version yet

[audunr]

10.5.2 Server has a show-stopper bug with AFP/Open Directory which gradually makes authentication impossible. Gradually, you get no file access, no VNC, no SSH and in the end you cannot log on locally with an attached screen and keyboard. The issue has been heavily discussed at http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1251475&tstart=0 [apple.com]

Re:freakin scary, that was

[TJamieson]

Interesting, I had a similar experience. Moreover, the machine that got the 200M update took *forever* to install, but the 420M update machine went blazing quick.

By any chance, are your two 198M macs running with ATi Graphics?

Still No TimeMachine On Remote Drive

[neoform]

Am I just not seeing why this would be hard?

I really want to be able to backup to a remote drive. Perhaps allowing me to save to a disk image?

Re:Retardedness

[Poltras]

You know they actually fixed the dock folder problem, right? If you right click and check "Display as Folder", it shows as the icon of the folder itself. You can then choose the icon of the folder itself to fit your needs. It's been there since at least 10.5.2.

Re:Now, like all updates

[TJamieson]

Hate to be pedantic, but there was no 10.2.9. The 10.2 series stopped at 10.2.8.

Re:Still No TimeMachine On Remote Drive

[raddan]

Just use SuperDuper! [shirt-pocket.com]. Their Smart Update feature is fast enough that taking the 15 minutes out of your day to do a backup is relatively painless.

Re:Still No TimeMachine On Remote Drive

[Anonymous Coward]

The app you want is called CCC and is available at www.bombich.com. It works wonders, can clone discs or create images that can be burned. Has built in ASR support as well. Good stuff.

Re:It's 9D34

[0100010001010011]

Updating for those of us at work:

I'm still at work but I'd like to come home to a freshly updated system, you can do system updates over SSH.

>sudo softwareupdate -i -a
Software Update Tool
Copyright 2002-2007 Apple

Downloading Mac OS X Update 0.
---
Then it'll install and you can do a
> sudo shutdown -r now

Hurray for BSD underpinnings.

Re:Still No TimeMachine On Remote Drive

[GalionTheElf]

If you mean remote as in a share on your network, you can enable using Time Machine on SMB & NFS shares by entering "defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1" in a console.

Re:Still No TimeMachine On Remote Drive

[willy_me]

You can create a custom sparse disk image that has a maximum size limit - then TimeMachine will know. There are instructions posted on macosxhints.com [macosxhints.com].

Re:No Server version yet

[SoylentRed]

This is what has kept us from 10.5... we upgraded from 10.4.x about 2-3 months after Leopard launched.

We ran into issue after issue of this exact same bug. We even ran into this in our Apple Training - was great watching the trainer think nothing was "officially" wrong. Seems for us that it was when we did screen sharing (during training) just 1 computer connecting to the server would cause the crash.

Now - we have purchased servers that only support 10.5 - and we haven't had a SINGLE issue with AFP crashing - it isn't hosting home folders for OD - but it was setup as a file share for administering tests - we ran for 2 months of testing without a hick-up.

Either way - that was a long-winded reply to us really just crossing our fingers 10.5.3 fixes the AFP - we like a lot of the new features - but having to reset the servers 2-5 times a day due to AFP crashes is completely unacceptable.

Re:installing

[dal20402]

Nope. I got the 420 MB version through Software Update on both of my MBPs (one 2.16GHz Core Duo, one 2.4GHz Penryn).

Supported from the start

[SuperKendall]

Actually ever since the release of Leopard you could use Time Machine on a network drive, as long as it was shared by another Mac.

You mean a standalone network drive, and that need is supported by Time Capsule.

Or you could create the TM volume on a disk attached to your local system, then put it up on a network shared device (like attached to an Airport).

Or you could use any number of workarounds to allow you to use the remote system as a TM drive...

It's not like there are not options, some of them even Apple supported, and many of them working ever since TM was out.

Re:freakin scary, that was

[TJamieson]

Oof I hate to reply to myself, but so far my experience has been that (1) ATi machines get the smaller update and (2) said machines seem to take an extremely long time to install.

MacBook (Intel graphics) got the 400M update, and sped right through it. iMac (ATi) got the 200M, and seemed to die on "Running Installer Script".

Anybody got an nVidia Mac to report in here? Anybody else seeing the same thing?

This pretty much fixes Spaces

[Anonymous Coward]

Leopard's Spaces had been criticized for making it hard to organize virtual desktops by task rather than by application (for example at http://blogs.sun.com/bblfish/entry/why_apple_spaces_is_broken [sun.com] and http://www.dribin.org/dave/blog/archives/2007/11/13/spaces/ [dribin.org]).

10.5.3 seems to address most of these criticisms with two small changes: Command-Tab now tries to find application windows in the current space before switching spaces, and there's a new preference to not switch spaces at all when switching applications.

This makes a big different in the usability of Spaces!

Re:It's 9D34

[Anonymous Coward]

That won't work because the 10.5.3 update installs a new PAM that throws sudo off prior to rebooting, so the last step you mentioned won't run. So what you have to do instead is this:

sudo -s
softwareupdate -i -a
shutdown -r now

Re:This pretty much fixes Spaces

[Anonymous Coward]

I would much prefer it if there are no windows open in the current space but the application is running, Command+Tab gives the app focus but not any windows.

In the Spaces system preference pane, uncheck "When switching to an application, switch to a space with open windows for the application". I think this will give you the behavior you are seeking.

This preference option is new in 10.5.3.

Re:Mac Book Pro stuck-in-sleep bug fixed?

[Anonymous Coward]

The MBP firmware update from a week or two ago fixes this. You download it from software update. Then you may need to run it manually from the utilities folder.