Apple has released a number of updates to Mac OS X and Safari, including what may be the most comprehensive security update so far. The Mac OS X 10.5.7 update includes 47 security fixes, for everything from Apache to X-11, by way of core graphics, disk images, Flash Player (Apple is bundling a Flash Player update in their own security update), iChat, PHP and much more. In addition to being a comprehensive update, this is also a very large one: on Apple’s downloads page, the simple 10.5.7 updater is 442 MB and the combo updater 729 MB, though Software Update on several different Macs we’ve examined finds updaters of very different sizes, from 286 MB on a laptop to 449 MB on a Mac Pro. The Tiger version of the security update, Security Update 2009-002, is 75 MB for PPC Macs and 165 MB for Intel Macs. Versions of the update for Mac OS X Server are larger.
Apple has also updated the public beta version of its Safari 4 web browser, handling three issues. This update is available via Software Update after installing the 10.5.7 update, or from the Safari download page. Annoyingly, when you download this Safari update after restarting (twice) for the 10.5.7 update, you will be required to restart your Mac again. A Safari 3.2.3 update is available as well, covering the same three issues, for those who wish to only update Safari, though it is strongly recommended to perform the full system update.
