My Perl code installed several (4) rpm files as root. the next install removes them (rpm -e) before installing a newer version. One does not remove, with rpm -e giving the error that it is not installed. However, later when the updated file is installed, the message is given that it is already installed. Manual attempts to remove give the same results. My questions are how to force removal something from the rpm database, and why does this contradication exist (not installed from rpm -e and already installed from rpm -Uvh and rpm -ivh)?