By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 11:00 AM EST

Development of Apple's second update to the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system continued at a swift pace this week, with new pre-release builds tacking on nearly two dozen fixes and revealing a handful of subtle feature additions.

Arriving on the heels of Mac OS X 10.5.2 build 9C16 on Tuesday was build 9C20, which saw the software's Graphics Drivers broken out into a separate 48.8MB package labeled "Leopard Graphics Update 1.0."

In a set of notes accommodating the update, Apple reportedly asked that developers apply the graphics update after having first updated their systems to the new Mac OS X 10.5.2 build. The separation, along with other changes, helped reduce the initial Delta package size of the upcoming Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update from a 450MB download to an approximate 360MB download.

Unlike previous pre-release distributions of the Leopard Update, the latest build lists no known issues. The intended focus areas for developers has also been reduced considerably, according to those familiar with the distribution, from 37 core components to just 11. Among the remaining areas are AirPort, the Dock, Finder, Safari, Spotlight and Time Machine.

Meanwhile, 22 new code corrections were baked into the build, bringing the total number of documented fixes within Mac OS X 10.5.2 to over 115. Some of the latest target image noise in RAW files, iTunes ScreenSavers, the system's AirPort titlebar menu, and Time Machine.

Build 9C20 also included a couple of menubar interface tweaks in support of a new Desktop preference that will let users choose whether they'd like a translucent system-wide menu bar or not.

This addition, along with support for Remote Disc optical drive sharing on existing Macs, a list view in Stacks, and support for Apple's new Time Capsule backup appliance, are thus far expected to be amongst the more notable feature additions in Mac OS X 10.5.2.