dpkg installed broken file?

[Mikael Hedin <mikael.hedin@irf.se>]

Today I noticed that /usr/bin/apm was broken, if  was no an ELF-executable
file, but contained binary garbage:

~$od  /usr/bin/apm | head 
0000000 042720 043320 000720 000320 000320 000320 060054 004014
0000020 000000 000000 052525 052525 000000 000000 000000 000000
0000040 001367 000000 000003 000000 052525 000000 073055 052400
0000060 052525 000125 000000 000000 000000 000000 000000 000000
0000100 001367 000000 000010 000000 052525 000000 060254 004014
0000120 060154 004014 052525 052525 000000 000000 000000 000000
0000140 001367 000000 000010 000000 052525 000000 060214 004014
0000160 000003 000000 052525 052525 000000 000000 000000 000000
0000200 001367 000000 000015 000000 052525 000000 022042 046102
0000220 022113 040520 052122 021040 052400 052525 000125 000000
~$ls -l /usr/bin/apm
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          11k maj 11 22:53 /usr/bin/apm*

I manually downloaded the apmd_3.0.1-1_i386.deb from ftp-master, and
installed it.  Then the file was correct again.

This raises two questions:

1) Can dpkg have installed a broken *deb? 

2) Has something written to files on my computer?  If so, is there a
way to check all installed files for integrity (a la rpm -Va)?  Is the
md5-sum of the installed files available somewhere?  

/Micce


-- 
Mikael Hedin, MSc                   +46 (0)980 79176
Swedish Institute of Space Physics  +46 (0)8 344979 (home)
Box 812, S-981 28 KIRUNA, Sweden    +46 (0)70 5891533 (mobile)
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