Tips/How To: Run Safari 3 Beta and Safari 2 at the same time
Posted by Dr. Macenstein
[UPDATE:] Some readers have pointed out that this workaround may not be much of a workaround at all. Apparently even if you backup your old Safari 2 installation, Mac OS X will use the new version of Webkit that ships with Safari 3, so essentially it looks like all this may do is let you run Safari 2’s interface on top of Safari 3’s core. Additional info would be appreciated.]
If you’re like me, you rushed out and downloaded the Safari 3 beta mere seconds after the WWDC keynote ended. And, if you’re like me, you may have been slightly surprised to see that the Safari 3 beta installs itself over your current Safari 2 installation without warning (Well, that may not be true. I couldn’t bring myself to read through the entire “Terms of Use”, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t mention it anywhere).
After all, you can download and run the nightly builds of WebKit each night, and run that simultaneously with Safari, sharing bookmarks and such. Why isn’t the Safari 3 Beta its own standalone app?
Well, fool me twice, shame on me. When I got home tonight I decided to install the Safari 3 beta on my home machine, but this time, I figured I would play it safe. I renamed my current Safari 2.0.4 installation “Safari V2”, then ran the Safari 3 beta installer. I was somewhat surprised to see the following error message in the installer.
Apparently, you cannot install the Safari 3 beta unless there is an application named “Safari” in your Applications folder.
So, I moved a copy of my renamed “Safari V2” to another drive, UNrenamed “Safari V2” back to regular old “Safari” in the Applications folder, and the installer worked like a charm.
So, I am currently running both Safari 3 beta and Safari 2.0.4 simultaneously. I am not sure if there is some reason this would not be a good idea, and perhaps Apple is saving me from myself by their overwrite procedure, but so far I have not run into any conflicts or problems.
The Safari 3 beta comes with an uninstaller if you should ever wish to drop it entirely and go back to version 2, but I like the idea of being able to jump back and forth if I run into a problem (for instance, Safari 3 has unexpected quit twice on me already, and “right-clicking” suddenly stopped working for me at one point (it since came back after a relaunch), but I didn’t want to uninstall the whole thing just for that).
One sort of cool thing I noticed is that the 2 apps share the same bookmarks file, meaning if I have both Safari 3 and 2 open, and bookmark a page in Safari 3, it is instantly updated in my Safari 2’s bookmarks. (They seem to use a different “History” file, however).
So if, like me, you like to beta test your software without leaving the safety of your currently working apps, there is your workaround.
I have to say I done exactly the same, I downloaded the Safari beta as soon as is became available. Unfortunately I have encountered a serious problem…..Once the dmg file had downloaded I double clicked the icon to install and nothing happened, so being impatient I tried again to no avail. Since doing this my entire system has started to crash with app’s refusing to open and the dashboard failing on me…..it might not be the new browser but cannot think of another reason for this happening. I am currently running an iMac G5 PPC with isight with 1GB of ram. The exact error message when trying to open dashboard is:
Library not loaded: /System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/
Versions/A/WebKit
Referenced from: /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/
Resources/DashboardClient.app/Contents/MacOS/DashboardClient
Reason: image not found
So if anyone can help me repair this problem without a full system reboot please please reply to this thread as at least 70% of my programs are coming up with the same error in console! Please don’t let this put you off downlooading the new beta as it may be something else entirely that has caused this problem…
transformers RÃœLZ!!
For some reason after installing safari 3 my ichat got screwed up on my 17-inch powerbook. it took 2 pressings of “return” to get my replies to show up. I uninstalled and ichat is back to normal. weird huh?
now i’m no doctor, but is there any appreciable difference in safari3? at the very least i was hoping for no more brushed metal look. doesn’t seem any faster or even different to me…
I had the same iChat problem, I uninstalled and went back to Safari2
@widgetboy,
Apparently that brushed metal look is only for the Tiger Safari 3 beta and will be resolved in Leopard when the entire line of apps will look consistant.
ok, so it looks like there are issues with this beta, my imac is coming up with some scary error messages in console and would really appreciate some support! I am suffering multiple app’s crashing with only firefox loading without a fault each time…KERN PROTECTION FAILURE is a common fault that keeps appearing anytime i load a app. Please please could someone advise on how to help me or point me in the direction of some answers.
Thanks!
@Shakes:
Follow these steps:
1. Open your Safari 3 DMG.
2. Right-click on Safari3Beta.pkg and left-click “Show Package Contents”
3. Open the Contents folder and copy Archive.pax.gz to your desktop
4. Double-click Archive.pax.gz from your desktop — an Archive.pax and an Archive folder will appear on Desktop.
5. Open the Archive folder, and then the System, Library and Frameworks folders. Drag the two .framework folders to your desktop
6. Now open your hard drive, open the System, Library and Frameworks folders.
7. Drag the two folders from the Desktop to your Finder window. (You’ll probably have to click Authenticate and type in your username and password).
8. If you get any errors saying it can’t overwrite them, it’s because they already exist, so try them one at a time instead.
9. Go to your Archive folder on your desktop again and open the System, Library and now PrivateFrameworks folders. Drag the two folders to your desktop.
10. Open your hard drive and go to your System, Library, PrivateFrameworks folders. Drag the JavaScriptGlue.framework and WebKitDashboard.framework folders from your Desktop to your Finder window.
11. Repeat step 8.
12. If Safari.app is missing from your Applications folder, then drag it from your Archive/Applications folder to your Applications folder on your hard drive.
@ayelao:
WOW!!!! Thank You so much!!!! Whatever wizardry thats just performed its worked on EVERYTHING! I had visions of being locked away all weekend trying to sort this problem out….wherever you get that sort of info from i’d love to know! ; )
Only wish I could pay you back and buy you a pint!
I don’t believe that anyone here with problems mentioned what version of Tiger they were running. I believe that I am correct in that the system requirements for Safari v.3 are 10.4.9. This may or may not be the issue, but wanted to throw it out there.
Inail, pretty sure anyone rushing out to download beta software is geeky enough to be running 10.4.9.
I think it should be worth mentioning that by backing up the Safari application, you’re essentially only running the old interface. You’re still running the newest version of WebKit, and you’ll have still replaced your Dock. So it’s basically just avoiding some of the bugginess of the Safari 3 interface. I wouldn’t count on this procedure to be an accurate assessment of Safari 2’s rendering capabilities/quirks.
@Shakes:
I’m glad it worked out, all that you did was perform a manual installation of the files. Of course, the install also replaces the Dock with an updated version, which you may or may not have had replaced. As long as Safari is up and running, though, you should be OK.
@Inail:
A lot of the problem is stemming from InputManagers (ala Saft, SafariStand, etc), and the fact that the Safari 3 Installer is kinda silly. It deletes stuff, and if it bombs out in the middle of installation (due to an InputManager or whathaveyou), the core frameworks are deleted along with the Safari application.
I have done something quite similar, I use the old Leopard 9a410 built still and happened to realize that the exact version number of the new safari is 3.0(511.22) while my old Leopard built shiped with Safari 3.0 (5522.5) When I tried to install Safari new update, it gave me the same error you had after renaming your safari. But I copied the Safari 30. public beta, from an other tiger machine I had and now I am running both 3.0 version parallel, with no problems.
I do recommend though to get a custom icon for one of the apps as otherwise it can be difficult to keep them apart.
Dr. Macenstein, thanks for the article! However, I think what ayelao said is very important: you are still running the newer Webkit in your backed up “Safari V2”. Perhaps you might mention this in the article itself somewhere, to save people that don’t read comments right away (like me) some time finding out by themselves.
For web developers wanting to test on both Safari 2 and Safari 3 (Beta) on the same machine, this is not a solution…
Good thing there’s an uninstaller though!
HOw do I get Safari 2 back?
@ayelao
Thanks much for the info. Of course, knowledge is always more appreciated than sarcasm.
@waycooljr
You’d be pretty amazed at what stupid people would do, too. Some can’t read, some don’t care to and some just don’t care at all. I would hope that any one of the Mac faithful would be intelligent enough to pay attention to that particular aspect, but with a lot of windblows users “switchin'” to Mac, I wanted to make sure that the obvious, ya’ know.. the one thing that most people usually mess up on, was pointed out. My apologies. Next time I’ll keep my petty nonsense to myself ;-p
lnail
this looks like the real solution:
http://subtlegradient.com/articles/2007/06/12/
safari-2-safari-3-adium-forcing-webkit-frameworks
Wow … It’s work….
Thanks….
I’d recommend just installing the latest Webkit instead — it’s basically what you get with Safari 3 without any hassles.
> Apparently, you cannot install the Safari 3 beta unless there
> is an application named “Safari†in your Applications folder.
D’OH!! Thank you for reminding me. Every time I’ve tried to install the beta it told me my 1 year old MacBook wasn’t up to snuff. Now I know why. I routinely put as many apps as I can in their own sub-folders for the sake of organization. With rare exceptions it’s been okay to do so but apparently the installer isn’t smart enough to find my copy of Safari 2 in my “Browsers” folder nested in my “Internet” folder. And I wasn’t smart enough to recognize why ;-P
Since installing Safari 3 Beta I’ve found that my Gmail account is running very slow when I hit Send. It seems to download messages without trouble. I tested the same emails in Thunderbird and Firefox and they sent them without any problem. Has anyone else come across this? I may have to switch to Firefox permanently if this keeps up.