Firefox 3 RC3 Coming

Due to showstopper bug #436575 there will be a 3rd Release Candidate for Firefox 3. This bug which affects only Mac users causes Mozilla applications experience unkillable hangs after installing Mac OS X 10.5.3.  Apparently the underlying issue is on Apple’s side, but the Mozilla developers have come out with a work around/patch to fix this issue. Affected Mozilla applications include:

• Camino
• Firefox 2.0.0.14
• Firefox 3 RC2
• Songbird
• Thunderbird

While there will be an RC3 for Windows and Linux builds as well, it is only a version bump, no actual updates will come with RC3. Only Mac builds will have updates with RC3.

Given the timing of this work around/patch, not sure if it is going to be included in the upcoming Firefox 2.0.0.15 release. That build had gone into a code freeze status right around the time this work around/patch was landed. So if it is not included we will likely see a Firedrill release for Firefox 2.0.0.16 (and like with RC3 only the Mac version will have the actual work around/patch. Windows/Linux builds will simply just get a version bump).

Even with this issue, the developers are still targeting a final Firefox 3 release by the end of this month. Also, no word yet when exactly RC3 will be coming out, I suspect by the end of this week.

News Source: MozillaLinks