10.4: Retain old WebKit with Safari 3 Public Beta
Jun 29, '07 07:30:00AM
Contributed by: Anonymous
Here's an easy and simple way to get Safari 3 running without ruining other apps that rely on the current version of WebKit. The way the WebKit Nightly builds work is that they are a self contained version of the WebKit framework that feeds itself (instead of the System version) to Safari.app. We can use this behavior to our advantage to get Safari 3 running without altering the system version of WebKit that all your other apps use, and without having to resort to using the Terminal to fix every app that may break.
[robg adds: This previous hint discussed the same general thing as this one, and this method was noted in the comments there. However, I felt it worth running this one as a separate hint as it's a simpler solution to the problem.]
This hint works because Safari 3 does not seem to check what version of the WebKit framework your system has installed, just that it gets a somewhat up-to-date build of the WebKit framework. Here's what you need to do:
- Download the Safari 3 Public Beta.
- Download and install Pacifist. The demo version is fine for what we need to do.
- Download the latest build of WebKit.
- Install the new version of WebKit by dragging WebKit.app to your Applications folder. This is will become what you use to launch Safari, instead of using Safari.app, so you might as well replace it in your dock right now.
- Make a copy of your current Safari.app, and name it something simple like Safari 2.app in case you want to revert back later on.
- Using Pacifist, browse the Safari3Beta.pkg you downloaded earlier from Apple, and extract the Safari.app to your applications folder, overwriting the current copy.
- Launch WebKit.app, which will load up Safari.app (Safari 3.0) with its self-contained version of the WebKit framework.
That's it; browse and enjoy! Using this method you get two things -- Safari 3 with all the new bells and whistles of the latest WebKit builds, and the rest of your apps that rely on the old WebKit continue to "just work."
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Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070628162610545