The link /vmlinuz.old is a damaged link

[David Henningsson]

I got this error, which seemed a bit scary, although so far I haven't seen it cause any problems.

$ sudo apt-get remove linux-image-3.2.0-11-generic
Läser paketlistor... Färdig
Bygger beroendeträd
Läser tillståndsinformation... Färdig
Följande paket har installerats automatiskt och är inte längre nödvändigt:
  libx264-118
Använd "apt-get autoremove" för att ta bort dem.
Följande paket kommer att TAS BORT:
  linux-image-3.2.0-11-generic
0 att uppgradera, 0 att nyinstallera, 1 att ta bort och 22 att inte uppgradera.
Efter denna åtgärd kommer 148 MB att frigöras på disken.
Vill du fortsätta [J/n]? j
(Läser databasen ... 161724 filer och kataloger installerade.)
Tar bort linux-image-3.2.0-11-generic ...
Examining /etc/kernel/prerm.d.
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/prerm.d/dkms 3.2.0-11-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-11-generic
Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d .
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 3.2.0-11-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-11-generic
update-initramfs: Deleting /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-11-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 3.2.0-11-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-11-generic
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-12-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-12-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/sda1
Found Ubuntu 11.10 (11.10) on /dev/sda10
Found Ubuntu 10.10 (10.10) on /dev/sda5
Found Ubuntu 10.10 (10.10) on /dev/sda7
Found Ubuntu 11.04 (11.04) on /dev/sda9
grep: inmatningsfilen "/boot/grub/grub.cfg.new" är även utmatningen
done
The link /vmlinuz.old is a damaged link
Removing symbolic link vmlinuz.old
 you may need to re-run your boot loader[grub]
The link /initrd.img.old is a damaged link
Removing symbolic link initrd.img.old
 you may need to re-run your boot loader[grub]

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: grub-pc 1.99-14ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-12.20-generic 3.2.2
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-12-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.91-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Wed Feb 1 10:09:55 2012
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Alpha amd64 (20120103)
SourcePackage: grub2
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

This is not a bug; it is simply warning you that your /boot/vmlinuz.old link is broken. You appear to have compiled your own kernel at some point and later removed it, but left the vmlinuz.old symlink in place.

[Neal McBurnett (nealmcb)]

According to http://serverfault.com/questions/4427/damaged-vmlinuz-and-initrd-img-symbolic-links-after-kernel-uninstall
this error message was old 5 years ago, when folks might still have been using lilo, which relied on these symbolic links, unlike grub.

Assuming that is true, shouldn't we just get rid of this error message, which even explicitly suggests a need to re-run grub?

Or at least make it more useful, by mentioning that it is more typically an issue with lilo?
Or perhaps at least say what the link pointed to before it was removed, so users know what was going on and how they might want to fix things?