Leading up to the release of new OS X builds, Apple has traditionally alternated internal and external seedings of updates. That's not the case now as the norm seems to have been broken by the Mac OS X 10.5.3 build.

As it stands, three successively seeded builds have been issued in the recent past. It started with the case of build 9D10 last month and has continued to build 9D12 set for Thursday.

Those familiar with the update status quo for Mac OS X say that the new seeds are intensive on fixes. Reports suggest that 17 fixes have been applied via build 9D12 to raise the fix total to 110. The fixes are geared towards improvements mostly in hotkeys and general functionality.

Additionally, sources say that patches have been applied to key apps like Kerberos authentication, the .Mac preference pane, AirPort, and Network Setup Assistant. All this should be confirmed In the days to come.

For the uninitiated, internal seeding signifies the dissemination of a new build to the developers under Apple's banner. Those outside it are classified under the external layer who are not directly under Apple's fold.

Speculations have been raised as to what the build-up of successive external seeds may be pointing at. Some have theorized that it could mean that the projected release of the Mac OS X 10.5.3 update could arrive sooner than the estimated seven weeks. We'll verify that with more news soon.