Below is the snippet from term.log As you can see I carefully ignored the warning about the kernel being removed. I am used to having the old kernel still available as a boot option in grub.
After this I rebooted and ran into the kernel panic. Log started: 2011-08-21 22:40:54 (Reading database ... (Reading database ... 100% (Reading database ... 50615 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to replace linux-base 3.3~bpo60+1 (using .../linux-base_3.3_all.deb) ... Unpacking replacement linux-base ... Processing triggers for man-db ... Setting up linux-base (3.3) ... Log ended: 2011-08-21 22:41:01 Log started: 2011-08-21 22:46:26 Selecting previously deselected package dracut. (Reading database ... (Reading database ... 100% (Reading database ... 50615 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking dracut (from .../archives/dracut_005-1_all.deb) ... Processing triggers for man-db ... Setting up dracut (005-1) ... /boot/dracut.img-2.6.38-bpo.2-amd64 does not exist. Cannot update. (Reading database ... (Reading database ... 100% (Reading database ... 50772 files and directories currently installed.) Removing linux-image-2.6.38-bpo.2-amd64 ... [?1049h[1;24r[4l[?25l(B[m[37m[40m[1;24r[H[2J[1;1H[1m[37m[44m[K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K [K[1;1H(B[m[37m[44mPackage configuration[4;2H[30m[47m┌──────────────┤ [31mConfiguring linux-image-2.6.38-bpo.2-amd64[30m ├───────────────┐[5;2H│ │[1m[37m[40m [6;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ You are running a kernel (version 2.6.38-bpo.2-amd64) and attempting to │[1m[37m[40m [7;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ remove the same version. │[1m[37m[40m [8;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ │[1m[37m[40m [9;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ This can make the system unbootable as it will remove │[1m[37m[40m [10;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-bpo.2-amd64 and all modules under the directory │[1m[37m[40m [11;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ /lib/modules/2.6.38-bpo.2-amd64. This can only be fixed with a copy of │[1m[37m[40m [12;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ the kernel image and the corresponding modules. │[1m[37m[40m [13;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ │[1m[37m[40m [14;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ It is highly recommended to abort the kernel removal unless you are │[1m[37m[40m [15;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ prepared to fix the system after removal. │[1m[37m[40m [16;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ │[1m[37m[40m [17;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ Abort kernel removal? │[1m[37m[40m [18;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ │[1m[37m[40m [19;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ [37m[41m<Yes>[30m[47m <No> │[1m[37m[40m [20;2H(B[m[30m[47m│ │[1m[37m[40m [21;2H(B[m[30m[47m└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘[1m[37m[40m [22;3H [19;24H(B[m[30m[47m<Yes>[23C[37m[41m<No>[19;52H[?12l[?25h[24;1H[40m(B[m[39;49m [K [?1049lOk, proceeding with removing running kernel image. Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d . run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 2.6.38-bpo.2-amd64 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-bpo.2-amd64 run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 2.6.38-bpo.2-amd64 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-bpo.2-amd64 Generating grub.cfg ... Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64 done The link /vmlinuz is a damaged link Removing symbolic link vmlinuz You may need to re-run your boot loader The link /initrd.img is a damaged link Removing symbolic link initrd.img You may need to re-run your boot loader Removing live-initramfs ... Removing live-boot ... Removing live-boot-initramfs-tools ... Removing linux-image-2.6-amd64 ... Removing linux-image-2.6.32-5-amd64 ... Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d . run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 2.6.32-5-amd64 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 2.6.32-5-amd64 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 Generating grub.cfg ... done The link /vmlinuz.old is a damaged link Removing symbolic link vmlinuz.old You may need to re-run your boot loader The link /initrd.img.old is a damaged link Removing symbolic link initrd.img.old You may need to re-run your boot loader Removing initramfs-tools ... Processing triggers for man-db ... Processing triggers for dracut ... Selecting previously deselected package linux-image-2.6.39-bpo.2-amd64. (Reading database ... (Reading database ... 100% (Reading database ... 44515 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking linux-image-2.6.39-bpo.2-amd64 (from .../linux-image-2.6.39-bpo.2-amd64_2.6.39-3~bpo60+1_amd64.deb) ... Setting up linux-image-2.6.39-bpo.2-amd64 (2.6.39-3~bpo60+1) ... Running depmod. Examining /etc/kernel/postinst.d. run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools 2.6.39-bpo.2-amd64 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.39-bpo.2-amd64 run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-update-grub 2.6.39-bpo.2-amd64 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.39-bpo.2-amd64 Generating grub.cfg ... Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.39-bpo.2-amd64 done Log ended: 2011-08-21 22:48:46