@Dave Doyle
... I would beg you to issue a patches, not a full upgrade. Tell us when the DB is changing and when it is not. Make it EASIER for us.

I like that idea a lot.

I don't think the WordPress developers themselves will bother though as they'll be keen for everyone to just upgrade to the latest version (and with good reason), but your suggestion may be a good project for someone else to take on. A single site you could go to which outlines the various fixes and how to implement them would be terrific for people like you and myself.