There were many important improvements and bug fixes in e2fsprogs since RH 4.2 and RH 5.2 were released. And since trying to recompile and install a new version of e2fsprogs when it's needed (e.g. after some partition went bad) may be really hard (if there is no undamaged mashine around), I believe it would make sence to issue an RH 4.2 and RH 5.2 e2fsprogs update.
While the suggestion has merit, Red Hat does not usually release errata/updates unless there are serious problems with the package in the released version.