Apple: Can I run Safari4 and Safari3 side by side?

I know that Safari 4 was just released, but I couldn’t stop wondering if there is any way I can try it out without having to give up my stable Safari 3. So, is there a way to run Safari4 and Safari3 side by side or is there a portable Safari?

While I don’t know the final answer, I can tell you one thing: if you are searching for running different IE versions side by side you’ll find tons of answers. If you’re looking for running different Firefox versions side by side you’ll find another pile of answers, plus various portable bundles, etc. But for Safari: almost nothing.

With the help of the guys from StackOverflow, I have found the unique resource pointing out that it might be possible to run Safari 4 and Safari 4 side by side: Multi-Safari. Unfortunately, so far Safari 4 is not available, but I really hope they will make it available soon.

Update: Here is an extract from another tutorial for setting this up:

1. Download and install the Safari 4 beta. You’ll need to reboot after the install because of the system framework changes.
2. After rebooting, rename the new Safari.app in your Applications folder to Safari4.app.
3. Download the Webkit build from 11/22/2008.
   Safari 3.2.1 was released on 11/24/2008 so I’m guessing this build is very close to that version.
4. Mount the Webkit disk image and copy the Webkit.app application to your desktop.
5. Rename Webkit.app to Safari3.app and move it to your Applications folder. In your Applications folder you should now have Safari3.app and Safari4.app.
   The Safari 4 installer backs up the previous version as an invisible file located at /Library/Application Support/Apple/.Safari4PreviewArchive.tar.gz. We need the original Safari.app bundle as the old version of Webkit we downloaded will not work with the new Safari 4 bundle.
6. Launch the terminal and change directories:
   cd “/Library/Application Support/Apple/”
7. Expand the backed up archive: tar -zxvf .Safari4PreviewArchive.tar.gz. This creates a few new folders in the current directory: Applications, System, and usr.
8. You can now copy the old Safari.app which is now available the the newly created Applications folder to the top-level /Applications folder. You can either use the terminal (running the command cp -R “/Library/Application Support/Apple/Applications/Safari.app” /Applications/) or by navigating to Library » Application Support » Apple » Applications in the Finder and copying the Safari application bundle that way.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound so simple and I have not tried it myself (moreover on the original post there are commenters saying it doesn’t work).

So, if you try it out do let me know if you can run Safari4 and Safari3 side by side! Also, if you find a portable Safari I’d really appreciate any leads!

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