Quoting Andrew Berry <andrewberry@sentex.net>:
<quote reference="http://drupal.org/upgrade/"> 1. Upgrade to the latest minor version in the major version you're currently on (e.g. if you are on 5.5 and want to upgrade to 6.10, and there is a 5.12 version out, upgrade to 5.12 first). </quote>
I assume in this case it's so that if there are any API-changing fixes in the point release, they are more easily dealt with than during a full upgrade.
Yes, hook_update_N for the current release is not carried forward to the next major release. So, you might miss something important like a variable change, a new table column, a new index, or whatever the change may be if you don't upgrade to the latest point version first. -- Earnie -- http://r-feed.com/ -- http://for-my-kids.com/ -- http://www.4offer.biz/ -- http://give-me-an-offer.com/