We currently have about 50 Linux desktops rolled out. What is the best method for keeping these PCs up to date with patches, config files, etc? Currently, I'll email the group and tell them to modify a file, or email them an rpm and tell them to install it. This is a pretty archaic method.

Im thinking of something along the lines of this:

Setup a cronjob on everyones computer in cron.daily. That cronjob will check a file/script on a central server for its mtime. If the file is newer than the last time it checked, it will use wget to download the script then execute it.

That script could install rpm's, edit config files, etc..

Thoughts?

that's a bit convoluted but could work. i'd certainly favour more of a push approach. from a central server simply do an rsa key authenticated ssh to all relevant machines and do wheveter you want via a script that way. no remote configuration on each machine whatsoever then. probably also useful to make use of automount to automatically mount centrally located NFS or SMB shares on demand for update files.