diff --git a/conf.d/bootmisc b/conf.d/bootmisc
index d79706cc..53712097 100644
--- a/conf.d/bootmisc
+++ b/conf.d/bootmisc
@@ -8,3 +8,8 @@ wipe_tmp="YES"
 # Write the initial dmesg log into /var/log/dmesg after boot
 # This may be useful if you need the kernel boot log afterwards
 log_dmesg="YES"
+
+# Save the previous dmesg log to dmesc.old
+# This may be useful if you need to compare the current boot to the
+# previous one.
+#previous_dmesg=no
diff --git a/init.d/bootmisc.in b/init.d/bootmisc.in
index 1a05920b..4015d8fe 100644
--- a/init.d/bootmisc.in
+++ b/init.d/bootmisc.in
@@ -216,6 +216,9 @@ start()
 			case "$RC_SYS" in
 				VSERVER|OPENVZ|LXC|SYSTEMD-NSPAWN) ;;
 				*)
+					if yesno ${previous_dmesg:-no}; then
+						mv /var/log/dmesg /var/log/dmesg.old
+					fi
 					dmesg > /var/log/dmesg
 					chmod 640 /var/log/dmesg
 					;;