incremental export & sync model breaks when only metadata modification happen on rhn

Issue

• I cloned the errata on a satellite 4.2.3 and diffed the cloned and based channels. I discovered that the following packages were added by the sync with rhn to the based channels. The same packages had been in the Virt and MultiOS channels since RHEL 5.4, but they have been added to the base channels. I did not see any download of the packages in the rhn sync. The modification is not tied to any errata, so that breaks the cloned channel model. I assume only metadata was modified in the sync.
• I then proceded to do an incremental export on a satellite 5.3 that had synced with rhn and had those packages in the base channels. I transfered the incremental export to a disconnected satellite 5.3 and did a sync.
• The sync did not add the packages above to the base channels on the disconnected satellite. It appears that metadata changes are not exported in an incremental sync.