But with "yum check-update" or the equivalent apt-get incantation saying you have dozens of security updates every week or two, reading the release notes for al

But with "yum check-update" or the equivalent apt-get incantation saying you have dozens of security updates every week or two, reading the release notes for all of them and deciding which ones can be skipped safely in your environment is too much work. Far easier to just apply all updates every two weeks or monthly or whatever your schedule is, and then reboot.