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Thanks to several sources like the folks over at Unity, OSNews and TUAW I now have some answers.

Background

It basically comes down to the fact that Apple's Mac OS 10.6 aka Snow Leopard now runs 64-bit applications. This is the main issue with the 64-bit version of Safari and legacy Plug-in support.

Note: Apparently plug-ins don't have to be 64-bit but do have to be Cocoa based (and possibly also use the freshly released 64-bit API's) and many like the eMusic Download Manager plug-in are still Carbon based.

The revamped 64-bit Safari that's included with Snow Leopard runs compatible plug-ins in a separate process isolating them from corrupting or crashing Safari with it (see pics from TUAW).




Check your hardware

To check if your hardware has the 64-bit compatible firmware (EFI), run the following command in a Terminal window:




Safari Workaround

You'll need to run Safari in 32-bit, which will allow the plug-ins to load and be used.

In order to run Safari in 32-bit mode, follow the instructions below:

1.  If Safari is open quit Safari by going to Safari>Quit Safari

2.  Open a new Finder window and navigate to the Applications folder.

3.  In the Finder, select Safari.

4.  Go to File>Get Info.

5. In the "Safari Info" window, open the "General" section.

6.  Select the check box "Open in 32-bit mode"


7.  Close the "Safari Info" window.

8.  Re-launch Safari.


That's all for now, I'll keep this updated with my latest findings.  Again just hope this helps someone.

« Last Edit: September 11, 2009, 06:43:12 PM by mrtech »

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September 11, 2009, 01:03:32 PM