diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 62f6b9b56df..ac7e337ce59 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ Release 0.23.2 - UNRELEASED
 
     HDFS-3008. Negative caching of local addrs doesn't work. (eli)
 
+    HDFS-3006. In WebHDFS, when the return body is empty, set the Content-Type
+    to application/octet-stream instead of application/json.  (szetszwo)
+
 Release 0.23.1 - 2012-02-17 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/web/resources/DatanodeWebHdfsMethods.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/web/resources/DatanodeWebHdfsMethods.java
index 093cd9c863e..44ef5273386 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/web/resources/DatanodeWebHdfsMethods.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/web/resources/DatanodeWebHdfsMethods.java
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ public class DatanodeWebHdfsMethods {
   @PUT
   @Path("/")
   @Consumes({"*/*"})
-  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
+  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
   public Response putRoot(
       final InputStream in,
       @Context final UserGroupInformation ugi,
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ public class DatanodeWebHdfsMethods {
   @PUT
   @Path("{" + UriFsPathParam.NAME + ":.*}")
   @Consumes({"*/*"})
-  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
+  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
   public Response put(
       final InputStream in,
       @Context final UserGroupInformation ugi,
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ public class DatanodeWebHdfsMethods {
       final InetSocketAddress nnHttpAddr = NameNode.getHttpAddress(conf);
       final URI uri = new URI(WebHdfsFileSystem.SCHEME, null,
           nnHttpAddr.getHostName(), nnHttpAddr.getPort(), fullpath, null, null);
-      return Response.created(uri).type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).build();
+      return Response.created(uri).type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
     }
     default:
       throw new UnsupportedOperationException(op + " is not supported");
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ public class DatanodeWebHdfsMethods {
   @POST
   @Path("/")
   @Consumes({"*/*"})
-  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
+  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
   public Response postRoot(
       final InputStream in,
       @Context final UserGroupInformation ugi,
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ public class DatanodeWebHdfsMethods {
   @POST
   @Path("{" + UriFsPathParam.NAME + ":.*}")
   @Consumes({"*/*"})
-  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
+  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
   public Response post(
       final InputStream in,
       @Context final UserGroupInformation ugi,
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ public class DatanodeWebHdfsMethods {
         IOUtils.cleanup(LOG, out);
         IOUtils.cleanup(LOG, dfsclient);
       }
-      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).build();
+      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
     }
     default:
       throw new UnsupportedOperationException(op + " is not supported");
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/NamenodeWebHdfsMethods.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/NamenodeWebHdfsMethods.java
index 44e5e13bc8a..e041b034082 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/NamenodeWebHdfsMethods.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/NamenodeWebHdfsMethods.java
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ public class NamenodeWebHdfsMethods {
   @PUT
   @Path("/")
   @Consumes({"*/*"})
-  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
+  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
   public Response putRoot(
       @Context final UserGroupInformation ugi,
       @QueryParam(DelegationParam.NAME) @DefaultValue(DelegationParam.DEFAULT)
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ public class NamenodeWebHdfsMethods {
   @PUT
   @Path("{" + UriFsPathParam.NAME + ":.*}")
   @Consumes({"*/*"})
-  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
+  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
   public Response put(
       @Context final UserGroupInformation ugi,
       @QueryParam(DelegationParam.NAME) @DefaultValue(DelegationParam.DEFAULT)
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ public class NamenodeWebHdfsMethods {
       final URI uri = redirectURI(namenode, ugi, delegation, username, doAsUser,
           fullpath, op.getValue(), -1L,
           permission, overwrite, bufferSize, replication, blockSize);
-      return Response.temporaryRedirect(uri).build();
+      return Response.temporaryRedirect(uri).type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
     } 
     case MKDIRS:
     {
@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@ public class NamenodeWebHdfsMethods {
     {
       np.createSymlink(destination.getValue(), fullpath,
           PermissionParam.getDefaultFsPermission(), createParent.getValue());
-      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).build();
+      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
     }
     case RENAME:
     {
@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@ public class NamenodeWebHdfsMethods {
       } else {
         np.rename2(fullpath, destination.getValue(),
             s.toArray(new Options.Rename[s.size()]));
-        return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).build();
+        return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
       }
     }
     case SETREPLICATION:
@@ -364,17 +364,17 @@ public class NamenodeWebHdfsMethods {
       }
 
       np.setOwner(fullpath, owner.getValue(), group.getValue());
-      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).build();
+      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
     }
     case SETPERMISSION:
     {
       np.setPermission(fullpath, permission.getFsPermission());
-      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).build();
+      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
     }
     case SETTIMES:
     {
       np.setTimes(fullpath, modificationTime.getValue(), accessTime.getValue());
-      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).build();
+      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
     }
     case RENEWDELEGATIONTOKEN:
     {
@@ -389,7 +389,7 @@ public class NamenodeWebHdfsMethods {
       final Token<DelegationTokenIdentifier> token = new Token<DelegationTokenIdentifier>();
       token.decodeFromUrlString(delegationTokenArgument.getValue());
       np.cancelDelegationToken(token);
-      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).build();
+      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
     }
     default:
       throw new UnsupportedOperationException(op + " is not supported");
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ public class NamenodeWebHdfsMethods {
   @POST
   @Path("/")
   @Consumes({"*/*"})
-  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
+  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
   public Response postRoot(
       @Context final UserGroupInformation ugi,
       @QueryParam(DelegationParam.NAME) @DefaultValue(DelegationParam.DEFAULT)
@@ -427,7 +427,7 @@ public class NamenodeWebHdfsMethods {
   @POST
   @Path("{" + UriFsPathParam.NAME + ":.*}")
   @Consumes({"*/*"})
-  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
+  @Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
   public Response post(
       @Context final UserGroupInformation ugi,
       @QueryParam(DelegationParam.NAME) @DefaultValue(DelegationParam.DEFAULT)
@@ -459,7 +459,7 @@ public class NamenodeWebHdfsMethods {
     {
       final URI uri = redirectURI(namenode, ugi, delegation, username, doAsUser,
           fullpath, op.getValue(), -1L, bufferSize);
-      return Response.temporaryRedirect(uri).build();
+      return Response.temporaryRedirect(uri).type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
     }
     default:
       throw new UnsupportedOperationException(op + " is not supported");
@@ -542,7 +542,7 @@ public class NamenodeWebHdfsMethods {
     {
       final URI uri = redirectURI(namenode, ugi, delegation, username, doAsUser,
           fullpath, op.getValue(), offset.getValue(), offset, length, bufferSize);
-      return Response.temporaryRedirect(uri).build();
+      return Response.temporaryRedirect(uri).type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
     }
     case GET_BLOCK_LOCATIONS:
     {
@@ -578,7 +578,7 @@ public class NamenodeWebHdfsMethods {
     {
       final URI uri = redirectURI(namenode, ugi, delegation, username, doAsUser,
           fullpath, op.getValue(), -1L);
-      return Response.temporaryRedirect(uri).build();
+      return Response.temporaryRedirect(uri).type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
     }
     case GETDELEGATIONTOKEN:
     {
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/web/TestWebHdfsFileSystemContract.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/web/TestWebHdfsFileSystemContract.java
index 0c2372c4ed5..b551dd1927e 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/web/TestWebHdfsFileSystemContract.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/web/TestWebHdfsFileSystemContract.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+import javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.BlockLocation;
@@ -314,6 +315,8 @@ public class TestWebHdfsFileSystemContract extends FileSystemContractBaseTest {
       conn.setRequestMethod(op.getType().toString());
       conn.connect();
       assertEquals(HttpServletResponse.SC_OK, conn.getResponseCode());
+      assertEquals(0, conn.getContentLength());
+      assertEquals(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM, conn.getContentType());
       assertEquals((short)0755, webhdfs.getFileStatus(dir).getPermission().toShort());
       conn.disconnect();
     }