dist-upgrade -vs- apache -vs- newbie

[Brendan & Jennifer Smith]

Just begun experimenting with Linux and more specifically Debian… <read: newbie>   From what I’ve read, I believe I understand that once a “stable” release is usurped by a new stable release (i.e. what will happen to woody once sarge is ready), the security updates (for woody in this example) discontinue.   So, if I want to run a small web server at home with Debian and Apache, once Woody is outdated, will the dist-upgrade feature take me to Sarge and preserve the Apache files and settings with maybe some tweaking of the httpd.conf file, or would it be more complicated than that.   To parse it out; to maintain a secure web server with a distribution that maintains its security would require dist-upgrade, right? And that would bring forward all the settings… right?   I’ve tried to find the answer to this on my own but cannot, so if this is redundant, forgive me.   Appreciate any assistance,   --Brendan