diff --git a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
index 85d1158bd3..673cfad231 100644
--- a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
@@ -68,13 +68,15 @@ UBOOT_LOADADDRESS ?= "${UBOOT_ENTRYPOINT}"
 # We don't want to override kernel Makefile variables from the environment
 EXTRA_OEMAKE = ""
 
+KERNEL_ALT_IMAGETYPE ??= ""
+
 kernel_do_compile() {
 	unset CFLAGS CPPFLAGS CXXFLAGS LDFLAGS MACHINE
 	oe_runmake include/linux/version.h CC="${KERNEL_CC}" LD="${KERNEL_LD}"
 	if [ "${KERNEL_MAJOR_VERSION}" != "2.6" ]; then
 		oe_runmake dep CC="${KERNEL_CC}" LD="${KERNEL_LD}"
 	fi
-	oe_runmake ${KERNEL_IMAGETYPE} CC="${KERNEL_CC}" LD="${KERNEL_LD}"
+	oe_runmake ${KERNEL_IMAGETYPE} ${KERNEL_ALT_IMAGETYPE} CC="${KERNEL_CC}" LD="${KERNEL_LD}"
 	if (grep -q -i -e '^CONFIG_MODULES=y$' .config); then
 		oe_runmake modules  CC="${KERNEL_CC}" LD="${KERNEL_LD}"
 	else
diff --git a/meta/conf/machine/qemumips.conf b/meta/conf/machine/qemumips.conf
index 1f330e0d59..283ae1e1d4 100644
--- a/meta/conf/machine/qemumips.conf
+++ b/meta/conf/machine/qemumips.conf
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ TARGET_ARCH = "mips"
 require conf/machine/include/qemu.inc
 require conf/machine/include/tune-mips32.inc
 
-KERNEL_IMAGETYPE = "vmlinux.bin"
+KERNEL_IMAGETYPE = "vmlinux"
+KERNEL_ALT_IMAGETYPE = "vmlinux.bin"
 
 SERIAL_CONSOLE = "115200 ttyS0"
 
diff --git a/meta/packages/linux/linux-wrs_git.bb b/meta/packages/linux/linux-wrs_git.bb
index a4bdcab5d7..be7d184e65 100644
--- a/meta/packages/linux/linux-wrs_git.bb
+++ b/meta/packages/linux/linux-wrs_git.bb
@@ -63,10 +63,8 @@ do_wrlinux_configcheck() {
 }
 
 do_wrlinux_link_vmlinux() {
-        if [ -n "${KERNEL_IMAGETYPE_LINK}" ]; then
-	        cd ${B}/arch/${ARCH}/boot
-	        ln -sf ../../../${KERNEL_IMAGETYPE_LINK}
-        fi
+	cd ${B}/arch/${ARCH}/boot
+	ln -sf ../../../vmlinux
 }
 
 do_wrlinux_configme[depends] = "kern-tools-native:do_populate_sysroot"
diff --git a/scripts/runqemu b/scripts/runqemu
index 25d30c98a9..c7c51ec77a 100755
--- a/scripts/runqemu
+++ b/scripts/runqemu
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ fi
 
 if [ "$MACHINE" = "qemumips" ]; then
     if [ "x$ZIMAGE" = "x" ]; then
-        ZIMAGE=$BUILDDIR/tmp/deploy/images/vmlinux.bin-$MACHINE.bin
+        ZIMAGE=$BUILDDIR/tmp/deploy/images/vmlinux-$MACHINE.bin
     fi
     if [ "$TYPE" = "ext3" ]; then
         if [ "x$HDIMAGE" = "x" ]; then