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Safari 3.0 beta (#3): More serious issues and fixes
[Published Wednesday, June 13th]
As we continue to report on some serious issues affecting the Safari 3.0 beta, it is important to remember that (as stated yesterday), this package modifies many significant components other than the Safari application itself, perhaps most importantly the WebKit framework (version 522.10.1 is included with Safari 3 beta), relied upon by numerous Mac OS X applications to render HTML and perform other functions. Keep the included uninstaller (Safari3BetaUninstall.pkg) handy.
Reinstallation of Mac OS X may be necessary for serious issues Some users who installed Safari 3.0 beta users are experiencing serious issues with both Safari 2.0.4 and other applications even after uninstalling Safari 3.0 beta.
MacFixIt reader Paul Burke, for instance, writes:
"Ever since I attempted to upgrade to Safari 3 Beta I have had nothing but problems. I noticed these issues immediately because the most obvious issue is that, with a full connection, and other computers loading the pages successfully in the house, Safari (and surprisingly Firefox) could not connect to the servers of many, many pages. (including Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, basically most of the pages I visit.) I am having the same issues, running Safari 2.0.4 (419.3). Loading the pages is not the only issue. Sometimes they load, but only partially (leaving out images, CSS, javascript, you name it. [...] Nothing is helping. I have tried uninstalling Safari, then reinstalling,then uninstalling WebKit, reinstalling Safari, then uninstalling again."
In these extreme (and rare) cases, you may want to consider re-installing Mac OS X, which has proven successful for some. As described by one reader:
"I 'successfully' updated from Safari 2.0.4 and found that I couldn't open Safari anymore. After 1 1/2 hrs. on the phone with Apple, I finally had to reinstall OS X with Archive and Install."
Widget problems (cont.) -- some already updated We previously reported that because Safari 3.0 beta modifies the WebKit framework and other files, some Widgets may not work properly after installation. One of the Widgets mentioned yesterday -- for accessing Wikipedia -- as already been updated with a Safari 3 beta-compatible release.
The developer of the Wikipedia widget, Sean Billig, provided MacFixIt with these details regarding the fix:
"The widget issues seem to be caused by a search history bug. When a widget contains this, it works fine (doesn't save search history):
- (left bracket)input size="21" type="search" autosave="myHistory" results /(right bracket)
"But when it's changed to this:
- (left bracket)input size="21" type="search" autosave="myHistory" results="10" /(right bracket)
"it won't launch. Both variations work fine in Safari, however. I've fixed the Wikipedia widget for Safari 3 users by greping for the Safari version number. Ugly hack, but it was late."
Uninstaller not working -- fixes We've received reports from some readers indicating that the included Safari beta 3 uninstaller does not work, giving the message that no copy of Safari eligible for uninstallation can be found.
MacFixIt reader Ray Constantine writes:
"After trying out Safari 3 beta, I decided it was not ready for my Desktop. However, when I went to use the uninstaller, none of the drive partitions (including the one I installed it on) were accessible for an uninstall. The message said that the partition did not have a Safari beta version that could be uninstalled. Fortunately for me, and I highly recommend this for anyone who like to dabble with betas, I had installed the Safari beta on a clone produced using SuperDuper!"
In some cases, performing one or more of the following may allow the uninstaller to work:
- Restart in safe mode (hold the shift key while starting up)
- Disconnect all USB/FireWire peripherals except for the mouse
Another option is to simply reinstall Mac OS X, as aforementioned.
Growl interference: "Candybars" empty The "Candybars" display type used by the Growl notification system displays no text after installing Safari 3.0. Other themes show notification text properly.
You can change the display theme by going to the Growl pane in System Preferences, clicking the Display Options tab and selecting from the left-hand pane. All themes except "Candybar" appear to function properly after Safari 3.0 installation.
Colloquy broken It appears that the Colloquy chat client is not compatible with the new WebKit version included with Safari 3, with no display of text in the chat window.
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
Previous coverage:
- Safari 3.0 public beta (#2): What gets installed; Widgets not working; Input managers can cause problems; more
- Safari 3.0 public beta for Mac OS X released
:%20More%20serious%20issues%20and%20fixes%20%7C%20MacFixIt%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10328664-263.html){kind=small}
"Warning: This beta upgrades system frameworks, Applications which uses those frameworks may fail after running this installer. In that case, please run the uninstaller."
Zero 3rd party testing, ignoring 3rd party popular programs really works (!).
It just needs to browse versiontracker top 50 or check their own download numbers to figure what may break. They are way too classy to check open source or 3rd party programs.
Yeah...lets have APPLE check every crappy 3rd party app that you may or may not have on your system...thats the ticket.
Geeze, we'd not see another revision for 3 years if we expected Apple to do others homework. IT'S A BETA!!!!! Released for the developers of said 3rd party apps to test for themselves. Repeat after me..."It's only a beta, It's only a beta, It's only a beta"
Fortunately the uninstaller returned things to a useable state. Put this one back in the box.
But I don't think it's Apple's responsibilities to test it with third party Safari modifications, especially if those apps use undocumented or Apple-private ABIs.
Webkit is being used by many OS X native 3rd party programs. A popular example would be Realplayer 10+
The programs relying on Webkit fails very bad after Webkit is replaced by beta.
Of course nobody who is sane will expect 3rd party "addons" etc would run flawlessly with a beta major update.
I was JUST about to double click installer and I noticed the "Framework replaced" part on Macfixit sidebar at Versiontracker or some blog I don't remember. That would be some real needless hassle for a production machine.
If you know Windows machines a bit, the Webkit these days is more like Internet Explorer's mshtml.dll , everything relies on it unless they don't use Mozilla's Gecko (like esselerate engine)
I wonder what prevented Apple from using a seperate, upgraded Webkit INSIDE Application, not installed system wide. Perhaps a real developer may explain.
"The programs relying on Webkit fails very bad after Webkit is replaced by beta."
Nonsense. I have had no such problems. Everything works as before the beta install, everything. If you're going to make such a claim the be prepared to back it up with facts. Anecdotal reports from uninformed or incompetent users is NOT evidence.
***!?
You don't think Apple should do product testing!
I'd make a fair bet that we all ae running pretty much the same 3rd party applications.
That's like me saying to my clients that I didn't check the files for anything before sending them to the printer! "I'm sorry (insert client name) but that print run of 200,00 344pp book is stuffed, but it's not my fault and I didn't feel like checking the files for errors, I mean why should I?"
So you're happy that Safari 3 beta doesn't work, it stuffed up your Mac, you had to re-isnatll applications? What a crock!
Did I install Safari 3? No. Because I have learnt to expect that anything from Apple (even if we know it's Beta) that the first incarnation of any application just won't work and it'll stuff up a Mac to some degree.
There's alot of sand in the desert and lot of ostriches too!
I run my Mac with few if any third party extensions like Finder haxies, input managers, etc.
Installing Safari 3.0b was flawless, and I had NO issues with the install. Some web pages displayed incorrectly and it annoyed me, so I ran the uninstaller.
My Mac suffered absolutely ZERO ill effects from ever having had 3.0b installed, and is back to the way it was before I tried 3.0b.
My point is if you have a standard out-of-the-box Apple system, you probably won't have issues.
It's not Apple's job to test their software with third party modifications to it; that's why they have ABIs and why their developers are supposed to stick to them.
If you start using undocumented interfaces to make certain things happen, your app will, by definition, be fragile and prone to break the next time Apple changes anything.
Funny and SCARY thing though- I installed Safari 3.0b on my HP Windows XP laptop with No problems at all....did they spend more time polishing the windows version than the Mac???
Uninstalled it, and the problem went away.
Screw that... if this was truly a beta, I'd probably try it... but, it's not.. it's an alpha... poot...
After installing the beta, eBay now informs me that i am running SAFARI v1.0 !?!
Same for me on every machine I've installed it on. Uninstall fixes it.
I believe I read in the release that Safari 3 has its own PDF viewing engine. You should remove the AdobePDFViewer.plugin from the Internet Plug-Ins folder if you install Safari 3. I have found that it will crash every time I view a PDF if I do not remove Adobe's plugin.
- by kucharsk June 13, 2007 4:53 PM PDT
>This is a reply to a previous comment by Phreddd
- Like this Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (25 Comments)Because things don't break for EVERYONE.
I viewed a variety of PDFs, small and large, with 3.0b and had NO CRASHES.
Apple can't duplicate everyone's system, so they send things out for beta - your crashes are what a beta is FOR.
Did you bother to send them a crash report so they can try and see why YOUR system was crashing?