Automated updates in Linux is a good idea? [closed]

Question

We all know that keeping a web server updated is very important to avoid bugs and been hacked. I had experiences where an update broke an application:

say you have a site running fine with PHP 5.2 but and automatic update updates to PHP 5.3 and your application is broken. I think the best procedure is to test the updates on a staging server, then if the application is not broken we can apply the updates to the production server.

From what I said above, I think that automated updates are dangerous. What do you thing and do you know any good document on this topic or good practice that is widely adopted?

Answer 1

This depends on a lot of factors. But in most cases no, you should not automatically update your system. It would be preferable to review once before updating.

Distro's like Arch Linux work on a Rolling Release system giving you a lot of updates everyday. On such a distro it is highly recommended that you review the updates before actually installing the packages, especially on a crucial machine like a server.

On the other hand, if you are using Stable versions of distros like RHEL, etc, the updates are least likely to break your system. All the packages being updated usually go through a lot f testing before being pushed out to the public in these distros.
Yet, there is always the chance that a certain update may break your system.