Updating Linux from an older to newer version

> Doesnt RH have an UPDATE function ...

I used the RH 7.3 install, and it allowed me to choose
which packages would be included, but it seemed to
be unconditionally an "install" rather than an "update".

> These are pretty Spartan server machines with no gui
> and a defined list of packages. And I would like to
> limit downtime. Is there any merit to manually
> updating all packages?

I don't know exactly how you would do this, but it
sounds like a better approach for servers since
you could skip most of the downtime.

Doesn't RPM have a "trial" mode that allows you to
just test what dependencies you are going to run
into?

Vic