diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index b02dbeea66d..d60be70f312 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -74,6 +74,9 @@ Release 2.0.1-alpha - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-8642. ProtobufRpcEngine should log all RPCs if TRACE logging is
     enabled (todd)
 
+    HADOOP-8623. hadoop jar command should respect HADOOP_OPTS.
+    (Steven Willis via suresh)
+
   BUG FIXES
 
     HADOOP-8372. NetUtils.normalizeHostName() incorrectly handles hostname
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop
index ae99d69d0f4..486465aa139 100755
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop
@@ -96,33 +96,30 @@ case $COMMAND in
     # the core commands
     if [ "$COMMAND" = "fs" ] ; then
       CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.fs.FsShell
-      HADOOP_OPTS="$HADOOP_OPTS $HADOOP_CLIENT_OPTS"
     elif [ "$COMMAND" = "version" ] ; then
       CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.util.VersionInfo
-      HADOOP_OPTS="$HADOOP_OPTS $HADOOP_CLIENT_OPTS"
     elif [ "$COMMAND" = "jar" ] ; then
       CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.util.RunJar
     elif [ "$COMMAND" = "distcp" ] ; then
       CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.tools.DistCp
       CLASSPATH=${CLASSPATH}:${TOOL_PATH}
-      HADOOP_OPTS="$HADOOP_OPTS $HADOOP_CLIENT_OPTS"
     elif [ "$COMMAND" = "daemonlog" ] ; then
       CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.log.LogLevel
-      HADOOP_OPTS="$HADOOP_OPTS $HADOOP_CLIENT_OPTS"
     elif [ "$COMMAND" = "archive" ] ; then
       CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.tools.HadoopArchives
       CLASSPATH=${CLASSPATH}:${TOOL_PATH}
-      HADOOP_OPTS="$HADOOP_OPTS $HADOOP_CLIENT_OPTS"
     elif [[ "$COMMAND" = -*  ]] ; then
         # class and package names cannot begin with a -
         echo "Error: No command named \`$COMMAND' was found. Perhaps you meant \`hadoop ${COMMAND#-}'"
         exit 1
     else
-      HADOOP_OPTS="$HADOOP_OPTS $HADOOP_CLIENT_OPTS"
       CLASS=$COMMAND
     fi
     shift
     
+    # Always respect HADOOP_OPTS and HADOOP_CLIENT_OPTS
+    HADOOP_OPTS="$HADOOP_OPTS $HADOOP_CLIENT_OPTS"
+
     #make sure security appender is turned off
     HADOOP_OPTS="$HADOOP_OPTS -Dhadoop.security.logger=${HADOOP_SECURITY_LOGGER:-INFO,NullAppender}"