diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index d121fff4503..91d3424a318 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ Release 2.0.1-alpha - UNRELEASED
     MAPREDUCE-4262. NM gives wrong log message saying "Connected to 
     ResourceManager" before trying to connect. (Devaraj K via tgraves)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-4276. Allow setting yarn.nodemanager.delete.debug-delay-sec property to "-1" for easier container debugging. (ahmed via tucu)
+
 Release 2.0.0-alpha - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/DeletionService.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/DeletionService.java
index 7d4de873e3f..4ce630a9517 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/DeletionService.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/DeletionService.java
@@ -68,8 +68,10 @@ public class DeletionService extends AbstractService {
    */
   public void delete(String user, Path subDir, Path... baseDirs) {
     // TODO if parent owned by NM, rename within parent inline
-    sched.schedule(new FileDeletion(user, subDir, baseDirs),
-        debugDelay, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+    if (debugDelay != -1) {
+      sched.schedule(new FileDeletion(user, subDir, baseDirs), debugDelay,
+          TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+    }
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/TestDeletionService.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/TestDeletionService.java
index 28b51c0632f..d91b3acf157 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/TestDeletionService.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/TestDeletionService.java
@@ -163,6 +163,39 @@ public class TestDeletionService {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testNoDelete() throws Exception {
+    Random r = new Random();
+    long seed = r.nextLong();
+    r.setSeed(seed);
+    System.out.println("SEED: " + seed);
+    List<Path> dirs = buildDirs(r, base, 20);
+    createDirs(new Path("."), dirs);
+    FakeDefaultContainerExecutor exec = new FakeDefaultContainerExecutor();
+    Configuration conf = new Configuration();
+    conf.setInt(YarnConfiguration.DEBUG_NM_DELETE_DELAY_SEC, -1);
+    exec.setConf(conf);
+    DeletionService del = new DeletionService(exec);
+    del.init(conf);
+    del.start();
+    try {
+      for (Path p : dirs) {
+        del.delete((Long.parseLong(p.getName()) % 2) == 0 ? null : "dingo", p,
+            null);
+      }
+      int msecToWait = 20 * 1000;
+      for (Path p : dirs) {
+        while (msecToWait > 0 && lfs.util().exists(p)) {
+          Thread.sleep(100);
+          msecToWait -= 100;
+        }
+        assertTrue(lfs.util().exists(p));
+      }
+    } finally {
+      del.stop();
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testStopWithDelayedTasks() throws Exception {
     DeletionService del = new DeletionService(Mockito.mock(ContainerExecutor.class));