diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 6017c4363fd..b7270676314 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -301,6 +301,9 @@ Release 2.0.3-alpha - 2013-02-06
     HADOOP-9278. Fix the file handle leak in HarMetaData.parseMetaData() in
     HarFileSystem. (Chris Nauroth via szetszwo)
 
+    HADOOP-9289. FsShell rm -f fails for non-matching globs. (Daryn Sharp via
+    suresh)
+
 Release 2.0.2-alpha - 2012-09-07 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Delete.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Delete.java
index 4dc550501c8..ed190d37461 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Delete.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Delete.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ package org.apache.hadoop.fs.shell;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.LinkedList;
+import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.fs.PathIOException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.PathIsDirectoryException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.PathIsNotDirectoryException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.PathIsNotEmptyDirectoryException;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.PathNotFoundException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Trash;
 
 /**
@@ -71,6 +73,19 @@ class Delete {
       skipTrash = cf.getOpt("skipTrash");
     }
 
+    @Override
+    protected List<PathData> expandArgument(String arg) throws IOException {
+      try {
+        return super.expandArgument(arg);
+      } catch (PathNotFoundException e) {
+        if (!ignoreFNF) {
+          throw e;
+        }
+        // prevent -f on a non-existent glob from failing
+        return new LinkedList<PathData>();
+      }
+    }
+
     @Override
     protected void processNonexistentPath(PathData item) throws IOException {
       if (!ignoreFNF) super.processNonexistentPath(item);
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFsShellReturnCode.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFsShellReturnCode.java
index c4cc64790c9..4bb67a0786c 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFsShellReturnCode.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFsShellReturnCode.java
@@ -299,6 +299,46 @@ public class TestFsShellReturnCode {
     }
   }
   
+  @Test
+  public void testRmWithNonexistentGlob() throws Exception {
+    Configuration conf = new Configuration();
+    FsShell shell = new FsShell();
+    shell.setConf(conf);
+    final ByteArrayOutputStream bytes = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+    final PrintStream err = new PrintStream(bytes);
+    final PrintStream oldErr = System.err;
+    System.setErr(err);
+    final String results;
+    try {
+      int exit = shell.run(new String[]{"-rm", "nomatch*"});
+      assertEquals(1, exit);
+      results = bytes.toString();
+      assertTrue(results.contains("rm: `nomatch*': No such file or directory"));
+    } finally {
+      IOUtils.closeStream(err);
+      System.setErr(oldErr);
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testRmForceWithNonexistentGlob() throws Exception {
+    Configuration conf = new Configuration();
+    FsShell shell = new FsShell();
+    shell.setConf(conf);
+    final ByteArrayOutputStream bytes = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+    final PrintStream err = new PrintStream(bytes);
+    final PrintStream oldErr = System.err;
+    System.setErr(err);
+    try {
+      int exit = shell.run(new String[]{"-rm", "-f", "nomatch*"});
+      assertEquals(0, exit);
+      assertTrue(bytes.toString().isEmpty());
+    } finally {
+      IOUtils.closeStream(err);
+      System.setErr(oldErr);
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testInvalidDefaultFS() throws Exception {
     // if default fs doesn't exist or is invalid, but the path provided in