keeping Debian up to date and checking the version number

[Adam Barton <adambarton@mac.com>]

Guys,

I am new to Debian but not so to Linux. I have studied the documentation,
and there seems to be multiple ways to install debian packages. This I
understand and am happily adding new packages as and when I need them
(using apt-get install <package name> and dselect).

However, how should I be keeping Debian up to date to the latest stable
release and also with the latest security patches? I am kind of looking
for a 'redhat network' or 'windows update' equivalent.

Is simply 'apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade' as root sufficient?

Are the packages verified that they are indeed a genuine debian update?


If so, how to I check the current 'version' that I am running and also
that it is the 'current' version.

Kind regards,

Adam Barton.



Output of 'apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade'

blueboy:~# apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Packages
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Release
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Packages
Hit http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Release
Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates/main Packages
Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates/main Release
Hit http://www.mirror.ac.uk stable/main Packages
Hit http://www.mirror.ac.uk stable/main Release
Hit http://www.mirror.ac.uk stable/non-free Packages
Hit http://www.mirror.ac.uk stable/non-free Release
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Calculating Upgrade... Done
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0  not upgraded.
blueboy:~#

My sources.list file

blueboy:~# cat !$
cat /etc/apt/sources.list


deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main

deb http://www.mirror.ac.uk/sites/ftp.debian.org/debian/ stable main 
non-free

deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main non-free

blueboy:~#