Apple releases Safari 5.1.2 beta to developers
updated 01:30 am EDT, Fri November 4, 2011
Fixes PDF viewing bug, printing issues
Very late yesterday, Apple seeded a new version of Safari to developers. The v5.1.2 beta includes a fix for PDF viewing and printing issues that were present in earlier versions of Safari, and the company recommends developers test it against mouse and keyboard interaction as well. The release notes on the beta also note a "known bug" that can cause some Safari extensions to crash, but does not yet offer a fix for the problem.
Apple also asks testers to try printing web pages generally, either by printing in-line PDFs in the browser or normal web pages. The PDF issues specifically addressed include a problem where PDFs contained in frames on websites were not properly displayed in the browser, and thus developers are encouraged to test the Safari build against sites with inline PDFs, such as banks and document management systems.
The release notes acknowledge a problem with the "beforeload" event used by some extensions that can render Safari unstable, but Apple does not ask developers to avoid the event or indicate that it will be deprecated. The beta is available for OS X 10.6 and higher as well as Windows XP SP3 and higher, and ranges from 38 to 46MB for Mac and 90MB for Windows. Also offered are Safari uninstallers for Snow Leopard and Lion. No timeline is indicated for when the fix may be released to the public.
