diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index 5871b73cd06..19413b89f89 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ Trunk (Unreleased)
     Azure environments. (See breakdown of tasks below for subtasks and
     contributors)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-5232. Add a configuration to be able to log classpath and other
+    system properties on mapreduce JVMs startup.  (Sangjin Lee via vinodkv)
+
   IMPROVEMENTS
 
     MAPREDUCE-3481. [Gridmix] Improve Gridmix STRESS mode. (amarrk)
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/YarnChild.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/YarnChild.java
index 6c1382d9e97..e4d0041d211 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/YarnChild.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/YarnChild.java
@@ -142,6 +142,12 @@ class YarnChild {
       // Create the job-conf and set credentials
       final JobConf job = configureTask(task, credentials, jt);
 
+      // log the system properties
+      String systemPropsToLog = MRApps.getSystemPropertiesToLog(job);
+      if (systemPropsToLog != null) {
+        LOG.info(systemPropsToLog);
+      }
+
       // Initiate Java VM metrics
       JvmMetrics.initSingleton(jvmId.toString(), job.getSessionId());
       childUGI = UserGroupInformation.createRemoteUser(System
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/MRAppMaster.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/MRAppMaster.java
index 4d07698b95d..2a3f9c17986 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/MRAppMaster.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/MRAppMaster.java
@@ -1306,6 +1306,13 @@ public class MRAppMaster extends CompositeService {
         new MRAppMasterShutdownHook(appMaster), SHUTDOWN_HOOK_PRIORITY);
       JobConf conf = new JobConf(new YarnConfiguration());
       conf.addResource(new Path(MRJobConfig.JOB_CONF_FILE));
+
+      // log the system properties
+      String systemPropsToLog = MRApps.getSystemPropertiesToLog(conf);
+      if (systemPropsToLog != null) {
+        LOG.info(systemPropsToLog);
+      }
+
       String jobUserName = System
           .getenv(ApplicationConstants.Environment.USER.name());
       conf.set(MRJobConfig.USER_NAME, jobUserName);
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/util/MRApps.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/util/MRApps.java
index 975d9f8c010..b8ba561fe46 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/util/MRApps.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/util/MRApps.java
@@ -463,4 +463,35 @@ public class MRApps extends Apps {
     vargs.add("-D" + MRJobConfig.TASK_LOG_SIZE + "=" + logSize);
     vargs.add("-Dhadoop.root.logger=" + logLevel + ",CLA"); 
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Return lines for system property keys and values per configuration.
+   *
+   * @return the formatted string for the system property lines or null if no
+   * properties are specified.
+   */
+  public static String getSystemPropertiesToLog(Configuration conf) {
+    String key = conf.get(MRJobConfig.MAPREDUCE_JVM_SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_TO_LOG,
+      MRJobConfig.DEFAULT_MAPREDUCE_JVM_SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_TO_LOG);
+    if (key != null) {
+      key = key.trim(); // trim leading and trailing whitespace from the config
+      if (!key.isEmpty()) {
+        String[] props = key.split(",");
+        if (props.length > 0) {
+          StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+          sb.append("\n/************************************************************\n");
+          sb.append("[system properties]\n");
+          for (String prop: props) {
+            prop = prop.trim(); // trim leading and trailing whitespace
+            if (!prop.isEmpty()) {
+              sb.append(prop).append(": ").append(System.getProperty(prop)).append('\n');
+            }
+          }
+          sb.append("************************************************************/");
+          return sb.toString();
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    return null;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/util/TestMRApps.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/util/TestMRApps.java
index 05497cc0c7c..160da133857 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/util/TestMRApps.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/util/TestMRApps.java
@@ -399,5 +399,24 @@ public class TestMRApps {
     }
     public void initialize(URI name, Configuration conf) throws IOException {}
   }
-  
+
+  @Test
+  public void testLogSystemProperties() throws Exception {
+    Configuration conf = new Configuration();
+    // test no logging
+    conf.set(MRJobConfig.MAPREDUCE_JVM_SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_TO_LOG, " ");
+    String value = MRApps.getSystemPropertiesToLog(conf);
+    assertNull(value);
+
+    // test logging of selected keys
+    String classpath = "java.class.path";
+    String os = "os.name";
+    String version = "java.version";
+    conf.set(MRJobConfig.MAPREDUCE_JVM_SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_TO_LOG, classpath + ", " + os);
+    value = MRApps.getSystemPropertiesToLog(conf);
+    assertNotNull(value);
+    assertTrue(value.contains(classpath));
+    assertTrue(value.contains(os));
+    assertFalse(value.contains(version));
+  }
 }
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/MRJobConfig.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/MRJobConfig.java
index 110b18d5563..81add614e84 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/MRJobConfig.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/MRJobConfig.java
@@ -134,6 +134,11 @@ public interface MRJobConfig {
 
   public static final String MAPREDUCE_JOB_CLASSLOADER_SYSTEM_CLASSES = "mapreduce.job.classloader.system.classes";
 
+  public static final String MAPREDUCE_JVM_SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_TO_LOG = "mapreduce.jvm.system-properties-to-log";
+  public static final String DEFAULT_MAPREDUCE_JVM_SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_TO_LOG =
+    "os.name,os.version,java.home,java.runtime.version,java.vendor," +
+    "java.version,java.vm.name,java.class.path,java.io.tmpdir,user.dir,user.name";
+
   public static final String IO_SORT_FACTOR = "mapreduce.task.io.sort.factor";
 
   public static final String IO_SORT_MB = "mapreduce.task.io.sort.mb";
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/resources/mapred-default.xml b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/resources/mapred-default.xml
index 4135ac072d9..392bf6ddedb 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/resources/mapred-default.xml
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/resources/mapred-default.xml
@@ -1014,6 +1014,12 @@
   </description>
 </property>
 
+<property>
+   <name>mapreduce.jvm.system-properties-to-log</name>
+   <value>os.name,os.version,java.home,java.runtime.version,java.vendor,java.version,java.vm.name,java.class.path,java.io.tmpdir,user.dir,user.name</value>
+   <description>Comma-delimited list of system properties to log on mapreduce JVM start</description>
+</property>
+
 <!-- jobhistory properties -->
 
 <property>