LinuxQuestions.org - Synaptic Multiple Versions

Fedora Core 3
Synaptic 0.55.3

When I run Synaptic, I get the warning message:
=======================================================
"There are multiple versions of "pam" in your system.

This package won't be cleanly updated, unless you leave only one version. To leave multiple versions installed, you may remove that warning by setting the following
option in your configuration file:
RPM::Allow-Duplicated { "^pam$"; };
To disable these warnings completely set:
RPM::Allow-Duplicated-Warning "false";
=======================================================

After clicking OK, I get a string of similar messages for various packages (I have copied pasted 'some' of them below.)

I then click on Mark All Upgrades (and use the Smart Upgrade feature) and Synaptic seems to do something ... but the Apply button stays greyed out. Some of the packages are marked 'green' and when I right click, only two options are available: Mark for removal or Mark for complete removal. If I choose one of these, the apply button becomes active.

I am worried about marking these for removal and then running Synaptic and damaging my install. Am I 'safe' to let Synaptic 'remove' the packages that are hi-lited in green?

An additional items: in the Gnome menu bar, the update icon is a blue background with a checkmark.

=======================================================
Some of the other additional warnings message:
=======================================================
There are multiple versions of "sysklogd" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "iptables" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "mikmod" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "xorg-x11-font-utils"
in your system.

There are multiple versions of "gaim" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "xorg-x11-tools" in
your system.

There are multiple versions of "libselinux" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "rhpl" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "libtiff" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "bind-utils" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "vixie-cron" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "curl" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "samba-common" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of
"system-config-securitylevel" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "system-config-date" in
your system.There are multiple versions of
"initscripts" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "sound-juicer" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "gtksourceview" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "hwbrowser" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "tzdata" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "python" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "krb5-libs" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "shadow-utils" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "libpng" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "dbus-glib" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "gstreamer" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "procps" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "wireless-tools" in
your system.

There are multiple versions of "redhat-menus" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "net-tools" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "gphoto2" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "Omni" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "vim-enhanced" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "words" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "squid" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "rsh" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "NetworkManager" in
your system.

There are multiple versions of "spamassassin" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "ipsec-tools" in your
system.

There arThere are multiple versions of "nfs-utils" in
your system.

There multiple versions of "prelink" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "man" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "gamin" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "elinks" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "dbus-python" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "xorg-x11-libs" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "httpd" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "xorg-x11-Mesa-libGLU"
in your system.

There are multiple versions of "xorg-x11" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "gnome-media" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "system-config-display"
in your system.

There are multiple versions of "mod_ssl" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "firefox" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "xorg-x11-twm" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "bash" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "slang" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "vim-minimal" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "file" in your system.

There are multiple versions of "policycoreutils" in
your system.

There are multiple versions of "xorg-x11-Mesa-libGL"
in your system.

There are multiple versions of "jwhois" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "libxml2" in your
system.

There are multiple versions of "bind-libs" in your
system.

Plus 42 (or so) other similar warning message