New RPM verify errors in many, many packages

[Vladimir G. Ivanovic]

I am getting errors from RPM verify that I don't recall seeing before.
For example (on a server):

   $ rpm -V gcc
   ........?   /usr/bin/gcc
   ........?   /usr/bin/gcov
   ........?   /usr/bin/i386-redhat-linux-gcc
   ........?   /usr/bin/protoize
   ........?   /usr/bin/unprotoize
   ........?   /usr/libexec/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2/collect2

or (on a laptop)

   ........C   /usr/bin/c89
   ........C   /usr/bin/c99
   ........C   /usr/bin/cc
   ........?   /usr/bin/gcc
   ........?   /usr/bin/gcov
   ........?   /usr/bin/i386-redhat-linux-gcc
   ........?   /usr/bin/protoize
   ........?   /usr/bin/unprotoize
   ........C   /usr/lib/gcc
   ........C   /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux
   ........C   /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2
   [etc]

The `?' means, according to the rpm(1) man page, that

   while a single "?" (question mark) indicates the test could not be
   performed  (e.g.  file  permissions  prevent reading)

and the 9th position refers to 

   T mTime differs

Several things puzzle me:

1. I get this error even if I run `rpm -V' as root.

2. The mtimes do not differ:

      $ rpm -qlv gcc | fgrep "/usr/bin/gcc"
      -rwxr-xr-x    2 root    root            93136 Oct 26 01:48 /usr/bin/gcc
      You have mail in /var/spool/mail/vladimir
      $ dir /usr/bin/gcc
      -rwxr-xr-x  2 root root 94800 Oct 26 01:48 /usr/bin/gcc*
  
   but the sizes do, probably because of prelinking. (I couldn't undo
   the prelinking because I, as root, get a "Could not get security
   context..." error message. More fun.)

   Of course, gcc works just fine, even when run as non-root:

      $ /usr/bin/gcc -v -o hello hello.c
      Reading specs from /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2/specs
      Configured with: ../configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --enable-shared --enable-threads=posix --disable-checking --with-system-zlib --enable-__cxa_atexit --disable-libunwind-exceptions --enable-java-awt=gtk --host=i386-redhat-linux
      Thread model: posix
      gcc version 3.4.2 20041017 (Red Hat 3.4.2-6.fc3)
       /usr/libexec/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2/cc1 -quiet -v hello.c -quiet -dumpbase hello.c -auxbase hello -version -o /tmp/ccQRdajM.s
      ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2/../../../../i386-redhat-linux/include"
      #include "..." search starts here:
      #include <...> search starts here:
       /usr/local/include
       /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2/include
       /usr/include
      End of search list.
      GNU C version 3.4.2 20041017 (Red Hat 3.4.2-6.fc3) (i386-redhat-linux)
              compiled by GNU C version 3.4.2 20041017 (Red Hat 3.4.2-6.fc3).
      GGC heuristics: --param ggc-min-expand=100 --param ggc-min-heapsize=131072
       as -V -Qy -o /tmp/ccquoQtt.o /tmp/ccQRdajM.s
      GNU assembler version 2.15.92.0.2 (i386-redhat-linux) using BFD version 2.15.92.0.2 20040927
       /usr/libexec/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2/collect2 --eh-frame-hdr -m elf_i386 -dynamic-linker /lib/ld-linux.so.2 -o hello /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2/../../../crt1.o /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2/../../../crti.o /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2/crtbegin.o -L/usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2 -L/usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2 -L/usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2/../../.. /tmp/ccquoQtt.o -lgcc --as-needed -lgcc_s --no-as-needed -lc -lgcc --as-needed -lgcc_s --no-as-needed /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2/crtend.o /usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.2/../../../crtn.o
      $ ./hello
      Hello World

3. I don't know what the `C' in the laptop's output means. The manpage
   is silent.

Both machines are running an updated Fedora Core 3 with the Red Hat
2.6.9-1.678_FC3 kernel compiled with OProfile support and some extra
debugging support.

Can anyone tell me what's going on?

Thanks.

--- Vladimir

-- 
Vladimir G. Ivanovic                      http://leonora.org/~vladimir
Palo Alto, CA 94306                                    +1 650 678 8014