where are the rpmdb and alternatives files supposed to be?

As near as I can tell, the rpm db files were (are) in /var/lib/rpm while some things seem to be accessing them in /usr/var/lib/rpm. Oddly, /lib/rpm is pointing to /etc ?? That doesn't seem right. I seem to have multiple copies of the alternatives directory: /etc/alternatives ^^ this one is full of symlinks /var/lib/rpm/alternatives /usr/var/lib/rpm/alternatives ^^ these two are full of small files Thanks, I think...