Try to run urpmi.update to update the package lists for specified medias. urpmi.update -a updates package lists for all medias except those on removable devices.
I tried a urpmi.update -a. Either that or intervening updates to cooker did make a change in what I saw (both "urpmi urpmi" and "urpmi --auto-select" now get to the install phase), but the upgrades still fail.
Here are the errors for "urpmi urpmi": Installation failed: librpm-4.0.4.so is needed by gnorpm-0.96-13mdk librpmdb-4.0.4.so is needed by gnorpm-0.96-13mdk librpmio-4.0.4.so is needed by gnorpm-0.96-13mdk
...and here are the errors for "urpmi --auto-select" Installation failed: perl(Bit::Vector) is needed by perl-Date-Calc-5.3-2mdk perl(Authen::Smb::Smb) is needed by squid-2.5.STABLE3-1mdk librpm-4.0.4.so is needed by gnorpm-0.96-13mdk librpmdb-4.0.4.so is needed by gnorpm-0.96-13mdk librpmio-4.0.4.so is needed by gnorpm-0.96-13mdk xemacs == 21.4.12 is needed by xemacs-tramp-20020411-7mdk libMrm.so.2 is needed by lesstif-clients-0.93.41-3mdk devel(libnoatunarts) is needed by kdemultimedia-devel-3.1.2-10mdk perl-BSD-Resource is needed by mod_perl-common-1.3.27_1.27-9mdk perl(BSD::Resource) is needed by mod_perl-common-1.3.27_1.27-9mdk libcap.so.1 is needed by zsh-4.1.1-2mdk libAiksaurus.so.0 is needed by lyx-1.3.2-2mdk perl(LWP::Parallel::UserAgent) is needed by squidGuard-1.2.0-6mdk
