Are initrd-tools and the kernel-image package needed after kernel upgrade?

["David De Graff" <debian@platformglobal.com>]

Last night I did a kernel upgrade by doing:

apt-get -t testing install kernel-image-2.4.19-686

The install process advised installing initrd-tools, which I did. The kernel
installation went fine.

Now whenever I try to install certain packages, like gcc-3.2 or binutils,
apt tries to remove both initrd-tools and the kernel-image package - and
that generates dire warnings.

Are these packages still needed now that the kernel upgrade is complete and
the initial post-upgrade reboot worked? If they are still needed, how can I
get apt to stop trying to remove them? I've been digging through a lot of
docs and haven't found an answer.

Thx,

Dave De Graff