Mozilla issues Firefox 3.0 RC3 bug fix for Mac

This morning, Mozilla's FTP servers were updated once again with a new round of release candidates for its next Web browser, but curiously, we noted RC3 for Windows was identical to RC2 for Windows.

There's a reason for that, we've learned: Mozilla is preparing a public rebuild of its release candidate for Mac OS X, that addresses a bug uncovered by users. It cropped up as a result of the operating system update process. Specifically, when you set up a Mac with System 10.5.0, then use Apple's update system to upgrade directly to 10.5.3. When that happens, Firefox 3.0 RC2 can hang after it's been made the default browser, and when it's trying to load its plug-in database. Users who upgrade only to System 10.5.2 don't experience the problem.

Of course, tracking, finding, and eliminating serious bugs such as this is what the testing process is all about. Mozilla is now treating this bug as fixed.

This morning, BetaNews did test and install the Windows edition of RC3 in our virtual XP SP3 system, where it's currently running with no trouble. That's no surprise, given that we ran a binary comparison on the RC3 and RC2 installation files, and only noticed differences in bits toward the very end of the files. So essentially, RC3 for Windows and RC2 for Windows should be treated as identical.