By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 12:00 AM EST

In addition to the new pre-release distributions of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Client and Server install this past week, Apple is reported to have seeded a new developer preview of its Xcode integrated development environment.

Unlike the client and server versions of its associated operating system, Xcode 3.0 9A343 has apparently progressed considerably since its last revision, with numerous bug fixes in place followed by new features.

Indexing, searching, and snapshots should be working properly, people familiar with the software say, while the text editor has had its notification messages revamped. A new Extract Function/Method transformation as well as improved source code managers and refined searching are also part of the fresh Xcode release.

Few show-stopping hiccups are part of the software, testers explain. Key bugs primarily involve memory use, imperfect DTrace functionality on PowerPC Macs, and running the open-source development tool Eclipse.

People familiar with the new development environment have told AppleInsider that Apple is chiefly interested in reports of slowdowns or temporary freezes rather than trouble with particular features.

The 9A343 build of Xcode lends some previously absent optimism to forecasts for Leopard's release, which is currently on track for late spring.