diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 025aaf1dab6..282bc4303f2 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -444,6 +444,9 @@ Release 2.1.1-beta - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-9774. RawLocalFileSystem.listStatus() return absolute paths when
     input path is relative on Windows. (Shanyu Zhao via ivanmi)
 
+    HADOOP-9924. FileUtil.createJarWithClassPath() does not generate relative
+    classpath correctly. (Shanyu Zhao via ivanmi)
+
 Release 2.1.0-beta - 2013-08-22
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FileUtil.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FileUtil.java
index 4ef4fb2428b..bb203422f39 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FileUtil.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FileUtil.java
@@ -1252,7 +1252,14 @@ public static String createJarWithClassPath(String inputClassPath, Path pwd,
         }
       } else {
         // Append just this entry
-        String classPathEntryUrl = new File(classPathEntry).toURI().toURL()
+        File fileCpEntry = null;
+        if(!new Path(classPathEntry).isAbsolute()) {
+          fileCpEntry = new File(workingDir, classPathEntry);
+        }
+        else {
+          fileCpEntry = new File(classPathEntry);
+        }
+        String classPathEntryUrl = fileCpEntry.toURI().toURL()
           .toExternalForm();
 
         // File.toURI only appends trailing '/' if it can determine that it is a
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFileUtil.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFileUtil.java
index a9646d33b39..3877e83a9b2 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFileUtil.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFileUtil.java
@@ -782,14 +782,23 @@ public void testCreateJarWithClassPath() throws Exception {
             expectedClassPaths.add(wildcardMatch.toURI().toURL()
               .toExternalForm());
           }
-        } else if (nonExistentSubdir.equals(classPath)) {
-          // expect to maintain trailing path separator if present in input, even
-          // if directory doesn't exist yet
-          expectedClassPaths.add(new File(classPath).toURI().toURL()
-            .toExternalForm() + Path.SEPARATOR);
         } else {
-          expectedClassPaths.add(new File(classPath).toURI().toURL()
-            .toExternalForm());
+          File fileCp = null;
+          if(!new Path(classPath).isAbsolute()) {
+            fileCp = new File(tmp, classPath);
+          }
+          else {
+            fileCp = new File(classPath);
+          }
+          if (nonExistentSubdir.equals(classPath)) {
+            // expect to maintain trailing path separator if present in input, even
+            // if directory doesn't exist yet
+            expectedClassPaths.add(fileCp.toURI().toURL()
+              .toExternalForm() + Path.SEPARATOR);
+          } else {
+            expectedClassPaths.add(fileCp.toURI().toURL()
+              .toExternalForm());
+          }
         }
       }
       List<String> actualClassPaths = Arrays.asList(classPathAttr.split(" "));