/var/lib/dpkg/status shows on installed packages

[Len Berman <lenberman@gmail.com>]

I just installed sarge on a new machine and NO packages in status are
listed as not-installed.  I'm using synaptic and it knows that there are
packages which are not installed.  (I discovered this using and old
script I had written which used dpkg-awk to find documentation packages
that are not installed.)

When I look at packages in dselect they all seem to be labelled 'n'.

I'm wondering if there is a way to get this information corrected.

Thanks.
--Len