Yesterday I downloaded a copy of Safari 4 Beta for Windows, and I have to say that the speed increase was obvious. Just a little playing around with the browser [especially in developer mode] tells me that Apple has something good. Real good.
However, my experience when installing the Safari4.0BetaLeo.dmg version on OS X wasn’t as hot. Well it was, but the collateral damage was unexpected.
In short, the browser worked great, just like on Windows. The speed up was there, but certainly not as dramatic as when you’ve got Internet Explorer to compare it to.
My problem, however, was that when I went to open up OS X’s Mail, the Mail program crashed. Hard.
Repeated attempts did the same thing. Open Mail, it shows the cached list of old messages, it attempts to download from the IMAP servers, and clicking anywhere causes the Mail application to implode.
It was certainly repeatable.
Two things about the crash impressed me, though.
Number one, Mail was blaming it on a Growl extension. That’s nice to know that an application can tell where it’s detecting a fault.
Number two, after a few repeated failures, it was just like Apple to automatically sense my frustration and have mail automatically ask me if I’d like to reset my preferences and try launching again.
I did. And, it didn’t work.
So, after logging a few problem reports, I decided to uninstall Safari using the Safari4.0BetaUninstall.pkg.
No surprise, Mail returned to normal, and my Growl extensions were functioning just fine.
This raises the question about what the new Safari is doing that affect Mail to begin with.
But the real point here is that this software really seems to be beta. Good beta. But still beta. If OS X Mail stops working and you don’t know why, revert to your original Safari install. I bet it’ll help.
Can any other OS X users confirm or deny this is happening to them?
CONFIRMED WITH SOLUTION: Thanks to reader comments and feedback, it’s clear the problem is with current Growl extensions not being compatible; simply remove them (see comments on how) and wait for Growl to come out with an update.
I don’t know if you have the Growl extension installed on your machine. Growl is a system wide notification scheme that is very customizable and useful. Many third party apps are including support for it. I myself used the GrowlMail extension as a way to get nice, on-screen visual summaries of my mail.
The current version of GrowlMail has a known bug that causes Mail to crash immediately and without fail upon launch. It appears that it is incompatible with Safari’s new WebKit rendering engine for reading HTML mail.
The places to look for the extension are:
1) /Users/user/Library/Mail/Bundles
and
2) /Library/Mail/Bundles
There should be a folder called “GrowlMail.mailbundle”
Removing it should allow Mac OS X Mail to relaunch successfully.
I haven’t had the problem but it is widely reported. The solution seems to be to remove the Growl extensions / plugins for Mail.
It should be noted that Mail makes use of Apple’s Webkit and Safari 4 updates WEbKit from 525.x to 528.xx. Hopefully there will be a Growl update in response to the betab but I would expect that the eventual WebKit upgrade in the final Safari 4 product will have the same issues with Growl if Growl is not also updated.
I installed Safari Beta 4 on a PPC and Intel Macs. No problems, no hiccups, no errors. Why does one assume that if they have had a bad experience with software that others have had the same experience? Did the writer check with others before writing his missive?
[Having worked in software development a long time, one learns that subtle problems are often environmental ones. The goal here was not to put down Safari, in fact it got high praise. The trick is to identify common factors by looking at both systems that work and those that don’t. Since environmental problems are difficult to diagnose since everyone around you is saying “it works on my machine,” this entry to assist those who do have the problem and tell them why. -editor.]
I’ve had no problem with Safari 4 and Mail.app. Nothing crashes. My guess is that you’ve got some 3rd part app or plug that is causing the problem.
confirmed. I had to uninstall safari beta
“Number one, Mail was blaming it on a Growl extension. That’s nice to know that an application can tell where it’s detecting a fault.”
As much as you’d like to blame Safari for these issues, sometimes you have to look at the hacks you have installed. Growl in and of itself isn’t a hack, but the Growl’s own website even describes some of the adapters as Input Manager hacks.
http://growl.info/documentation/faq.php
Specifically:
” and GrowlSafari is an input manager hack (sorry).”
[Not blaming Safari, but impressed it’s able to tell in human readable which extensions are suspect; very nice. -editor.]
No Growl installed – no problems with the safari beta.
installed Safari beta on a G4 700.
as yet, no real issues. sites load faster, flash heavy sites aren’t nearly as wonky.
tabs… takes a little getting used to but not a problem, dont really care that they’re at the top of the screen.
in short… works for me.