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This latest update is a monster, even by recent standards, with the Combo version weighing in at 536 MB, and the incremental "Delta" standalone update only slightly less porky at 420MB (reportedly, some 10.5.3 updates via Software Update (which I studiously shun) are about 190 MB - still pretty heavyweight.
If you're not familiar with the distinction between the two standalone versions, the Delta lets you update from Mac OS X 10.5.2 to 10.5.3 only, while the combo update lets you update from Mac OS X 10.5, 10.5.1, or 10.5.2 to 10.5.3. I prefer to use the combo version, even if I'm only moving up one version number as I was in this instance, and hey, this time they're "only" 116 MB apart in size. Historically, many users have anecdotally reported that they encounter fewer issues using the Mac OS X Combo updaters, than with the incremental Deltas or Software Update.
I've downloaded files of up to about 100 MB over my rural dial-up connection, which at the upper end requires about 14 hours of download time, but 400 MB or 500 MB files are simply out of the question. Fortunately my local (so to speak - it's 12 miles away) library thoughtfully provides a public WiFi access zone, so early Friday morning I drove my wife to work, then parked in front of the library and hunkered down for a download session. The 536 MB 10.5.3 Combo updater took about 45 minutes to download even over the broadband connection, and I ended up spending a couple of hours also getting the new Security Update for older versions of OS X, and some other large updates.
We had company on Friday, so I didn't get around to installing the update on my PowerBook until Saturday. Going with a freestanding update installer lets one do some prudent preparation before running the update, such as repairing permissions, running the cron maintenance scripts, cleaning system caches (a system maintenance utility like OnyX, MainMenu, (both freeware) or a host of others available is the most convenient way to do this). Belt and suspenders perhaps, but I'm of the view that doing these things can help avoid problem issues.
Before running the OS 10.5.3 Combo updater I ran a set of basic system maintenance routines with the Automation panel of OnyX. Something I forgot to do this time was to take MacFixIt's advice and boot into Safe Boot mode (hold down the Shift key during a reboot) before running the installer, although I think that's a good idea as well. Incidentally, starting up in Safe Boot mode takes a long time because it runs a media scan during the bootup process, so be prepared to wait about five minutes or so before the login screen appears (which it will in Safe Boot even if you have automatic login configured).
That actually took longer than the update install itself, which was a bit of an anticlimax after all the preparation, as it went completely smoothly, taking about 20 minutes from decompressing the disk image to being back up and running in OS 10.5.3.
Everything seemed to be working normally, with nothing obviously broken.
There are dozens, probably hundreds, of changes and tweaks in this update, highlights of which are listed in the Appendix below, and reportedly more than 35,000 files have been changed in the OS 10.5.3 update.
One thing I was particularly eager to check out was email performance, which has been a bęte noire in Leopard from the get-go compared withthe smooth email functionality in OS X 10.4 Tiger and earlier versions of the OS.
If you've been following my OS X Odyssey blogs on my adventures with Leopard, then you know that I've found POP3/SMTP email performance over my slow dial-up network (email has worked fine over the same connection in every previous Mac OS version I've used dating from System 7 on an old Mac Plus) truly, hair-tearingly dreadful, so it was a big disappointment to discover that there seems to be little, if any, improvement with this in OS 10.5.3,. It's still bog-slow, takes almost forever to send messages larger than about 10-15k in size, and seems to put a lot of load on the processor whenever email is sending or receiving - or at least the processor heats up, often toggling the cooling fans into action. This behavior is most noticeable with Gmail, but since Gmail's SMTP servers are among the only ones I can get to bypass my ISP's Port 25 block (and as noted, their SMTP server won't work with Leopard (or strictly speaking I should say that I actually did get a couple of test messages to send through that server, but they were a vestigial 1k in size and took 1 minute and 17 seconds to go out, which I don't consider "working," although it represents incremental progress from the previous Leopard versions in which I couldn't get it to work at all). I remain mystified as to what the issue might be, since that server works just fine with Tiger on the same computer, modem and connection (I still have Tiger 10.4.11 installed on another HD partition). Looks like I'm stuck with the horrible POP 3/SMTP email performance, which has driven me to use browser-based Webmail a lot more (which seems to work in Leopard as well as it ever did, but I prefer to use a POP 3 client).
On a happier note, Finder responsiveness seems to be enhanced noticeably over version 10.5.2, and while it's early days yet, the PowerBook's cooling fan seems to be cutting in less frequently than it had been in 10.5.2, with the machine running slightly cooler in 10.5.3, which is all to the good. Applications seem to open faster as well, especially Safari. which also seems to have received a shot of elixir de lapin with this update, and is now probably the fastest OS X Web browser.
Spaces has been breathed on in this update, and I had to reconfigure the keyboard shortcuts in the Preferences panel. There's also a new Spaces option in the Preferences (red-circled in the screenshot), the default setting of which retains the same Spaces behavior that we experienced in the earlier builds of Leopard, but if you deselect the new checkbox, switching to another application in the Dock, even one with no windows in the current space but is open in another, will not switch you to another space.
Or to put it another way, you will stay in the Space you're in until you deliberately switch spaces, not just switch applications. It will take some getting used to and experimentation with my workflow before I decide which mode I prefer, but it's nice to have the choice. I can see advantages with both modes in certain circumstances, and it would be nice if there was a way to quickly toggle between them instead of having to open the Spaces Preference panel. You are also now able to switch to another space by clicking an app's Dock icon multiple times. If you click a running application's Dock icon once, it will come forward in the space currently selected, and if no windows are open in that space a new untitled window will open. However click that same app's Dock icon again and you'll jump to the next space in which that app has an open window. Incidentally, some users have reported that it was necessary trash the com.apple.dock.plist preferences file in the Preferences and log out/log in in order to get the new Spaces mode to work, but I didn't encounter that problem.
Other changes include some Time Machine bugfixes and especially of interest to readers of this site, you can now run Time Machine backups with your portable Mac running on battery power, whereas in earlier Leopard versions you were obliged to connect to a power supply to enable Time Machine.
The Multitouch trackpad's gesture capabilities have been tweaked, as have USB, FireWire, and Bluetooth and some of the bundled Dashboard widgets.
But so far, so good.
You can download the Mac OS X 10.5.3 update installers here:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/
A direct link to the OS 10.5.3 Combo Update page:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1053comboupdate.html
Software Update method (if you must)
Choose Software Update from the Apple menu to automatically check for the latest Apple software using the Internet, including this update. If your computer is not up-to-date, other software updates available for your computer may appear which you should install. Note that an update's size may vary from computer to computer when installed using Software Update. Also, some updates must be installed prior to others, so you should run Software Update more than once to make sure you have all available updates.
Appendix: What's New and Fixed in version 10.5.3:
General
* Fixes a font issue that could result in Helvetica Narrow being used in applications instead of Helvetica.
* Addresses an issue with stuttering video and audio playback in certain USB devices.
* Resolves stability issues with Word of the Day, iTunes Artwork, and Slideshow screen savers.
* Fixes an issue in which certain attached hard drives may not show up in the Finder.
* Addresses an issue with .Mac syncing of Dashboard widgets over multiple Macs that use different screen resolutions.
* Includes additional RAW image support for several cameras.
* Improves the accuracy of the Software Update progress bar indicator.
* Addresses an issue in which Finder may not be available if the computer name is blank in Sharing preferences.
* Improves Active Directory binding and login.
* Eliminates a delay when logging in as an Active Directory user in a .local domain.
* Improves Spotlight searches on a AFP file server volumes.
* Clients can now change their password at the login window when bound to a Mac OS X 10.4 Open Directory server.
* Improves Safari reliability when connecting to the Internet through a Microsoft ISA proxy.
Address Book
* Addresses reliability issues when searching for contacts using built-in search.
* Resolves issues with mapping addresses that contain an ampersand character (&).
AirPort
* Improves 802.1X behavior and reliability.
* Improves reliability when using Time Capsule.
Automator
* Addresses an issue in which some actions may not work with the "Show When Run" option enabled.
* Resolves an issue in which the "New iCal Event" action may not work.
* Resolves an issue that prevents workflows from being saved in the Finder's contextual menu.
* Fixes reliability issues for Automator scripts that search for files by date.
* Resolves an issue that prevents workflows from being saved in the Finder's contextual menu.
* Addresses an issue in which Automator workflows as Finder plugins do not work when the workflow begins with the "Get Selected Finder Items" action.
* Fixes an issue in which the "Copy Files" action does not reliably work when added from Automator’s warning dialog.
iCal
* Addresses potential privacy issues by allowing events to be marked as private.
* Resolves an issue in which the inspector does not show capacity and availability info for conference rooms within a building.
* Addresses an issue in which the current day could appear in the left-most column of the weekly view.
* Addresses reliability issues with meeting alarms, invitations and attachments.
* Resolves issues with reliability when restoring from iCal backups.
* Fixes accuracy issues with auto-completion, availability data and location names.
* Resolves an issue in which iCal may send cancellation notices for events in the past after a calendar is deleted.
* Fixes reliability issues with iCal syncing.
iChat
* Addresses reliability issues with screen sharing.
* Resolves an issue in which saved chat transcripts may reported as "still in use" after opening and closing them in iChat.
* Resolves an issue with group chats not being indexed in Spotlight.
* Only the last 250 messages of an active chat are saved. Fixed to save unlimited number of lines.
* Addresses issues with echo cancellation that may occur on portable Macs.
* Resolves an issue in which Mail may prevent idle sleep when set to automatically check for new messages every minute.
* Addresses stability issues that may be encountered when dragging large attachments into an email message.
* Fixes an issue that could occur if two compose windows are open when dragging a file to the Mail icon in the Dock.
* Addresses reliability issues when changes are made to a mailbox while offline.
* Resolves wrapping issues that may be found with consecutive spaces in plain text.
* Fixes issues with certain web pages appearing garbled when emailed from Safari.
* Fixes an issue in which the Sent, Drafts, and Outbox mailboxes incorrectly list the "cc" recipients in the "To" column.
* Addresses reliability issues with attachments added to plain text notes.
* Fixes reliability issues with authenticated RSS feeds.
* Resolves an issue in which attaching an alias to an email message may not send the actual file.
Parental Controls
* Addresses reliability issues with application logging and time limits.
* Resolves an issue in which Parental Controls may prevent forced sleep.
* Addresses performance issues with web content filters.
* Fixes an issue with managed accounts in which iChat transcripts may not be created.
* Addresses issues with 4-byte files and whitelist.
Spaces
* Resolves an issue in which switching to a different space and returning back to the original space may reorder the application windows with a different active window.
* Resolves an issue in which activating an application from the Dock switches to a different space, even if there is a window for that application in the current space.
* Fixes an issue in which Command-Tab may incorrectly switch to a new space.
* Addresses reliability issues with Spaces when syncing preferences over .Mac.
Time Machine
* Includes fixes for Time Machine compatibility with Time Capsule.
* Resolves certain issues when backing up a portable Mac that is on battery power.
* Addresses compatibility issues with Aperture 2.
* Addresses reliability issues when performing a full restore from a Time Machine backup.
* Fixes an issue in which certain function keys may be disabled after using Time Machine.
* Fixes a possible alert message that incorrectly states a backup volume does not have enough space.
* Updates Time Machine to reliably restore attachments and messages in Mail.
VoiceOver
* ncludes Braille Update 1.0 which enables GW Micro, HandyTech, HIMS, Nippon, and Papenmeier Refreshable Braille displays.
* Addresses an issue with Braille dot 7 and 8 underlining.
* Fixes an issue in which HTML page anchors may be ignored by the VoiceOver cursor.
* Fixes an issue that prevented Hot Spots from being used in text areas.
* Resolves an issue with spell checking in which VoiceOver may only announce the first misspelled word if there are multiple words spelled incorrectly.
For more information, visit:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1141
Charles W. Moore
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