diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 7597f49129b..8822e366655 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1019,6 +1019,9 @@ Release 2.3.0 - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-5661. Browsing FileSystem via web ui, should use datanode's fqdn instead of ip 
     address. (Benoy Antony via jing9)
 
+    HDFS-5582. hdfs getconf -excludeFile or -includeFile always failed (sathish
+    via cmccabe)
+
 Release 2.2.0 - 2013-10-13
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/GetConf.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/GetConf.java
index 778ac59ee25..92a3864a675 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/GetConf.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/GetConf.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import java.util.Map;
 import org.apache.hadoop.HadoopIllegalArgumentException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configured;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.HdfsConfiguration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSUtil.ConfiguredNNAddress;
@@ -85,9 +86,9 @@ public class GetConf extends Configured implements Tool {
       map.put(BACKUP.getName().toLowerCase(), 
           new BackupNodesCommandHandler());
       map.put(INCLUDE_FILE.getName().toLowerCase(), 
-          new CommandHandler("DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HOSTS"));
+          new CommandHandler(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HOSTS));
       map.put(EXCLUDE_FILE.getName().toLowerCase(),
-          new CommandHandler("DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HOSTS_EXCLUDE"));
+          new CommandHandler(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HOSTS_EXCLUDE));
       map.put(NNRPCADDRESSES.getName().toLowerCase(),
           new NNRpcAddressesCommandHandler());
       map.put(CONFKEY.getName().toLowerCase(),
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TestGetConf.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TestGetConf.java
index 7a17cea2d65..80b176f4bd5 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TestGetConf.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TestGetConf.java
@@ -33,10 +33,15 @@ import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.StringTokenizer;
 
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FSDataOutputStream;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSUtil.ConfiguredNNAddress;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.HdfsConfiguration;
@@ -55,7 +60,7 @@ public class TestGetConf {
   enum TestType {
     NAMENODE, BACKUP, SECONDARY, NNRPCADDRESSES
   }
-  
+  FileSystem localFileSys; 
   /** Setup federation nameServiceIds in the configuration */
   private void setupNameServices(HdfsConfiguration conf, int nameServiceIdCount) {
     StringBuilder nsList = new StringBuilder();
@@ -379,4 +384,70 @@ public class TestGetConf {
       }
     }
   }
+  @Test
+  public void TestGetConfExcludeCommand() throws Exception{
+  	HdfsConfiguration conf = new HdfsConfiguration();
+    // Set up the hosts/exclude files.
+    localFileSys = FileSystem.getLocal(conf);
+    Path workingDir = localFileSys.getWorkingDirectory();
+    Path dir = new Path(workingDir, System.getProperty("test.build.data", "target/test/data") + "/Getconf/");
+    Path hostsFile = new Path(dir, "hosts");
+    Path excludeFile = new Path(dir, "exclude");
+    
+    // Setup conf
+    conf.set(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HOSTS, hostsFile.toUri().getPath());
+    conf.set(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HOSTS_EXCLUDE, excludeFile.toUri().getPath());
+    writeConfigFile(hostsFile, null);
+    writeConfigFile(excludeFile, null);    
+    String[] args = {"-excludeFile"};
+    String ret = runTool(conf, args, true);
+    assertEquals(excludeFile.toUri().getPath(),ret.trim());
+    cleanupFile(localFileSys, excludeFile.getParent());
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void TestGetConfIncludeCommand() throws Exception{
+  	HdfsConfiguration conf = new HdfsConfiguration();
+    // Set up the hosts/exclude files.
+    localFileSys = FileSystem.getLocal(conf);
+    Path workingDir = localFileSys.getWorkingDirectory();
+    Path dir = new Path(workingDir, System.getProperty("test.build.data", "target/test/data") + "/Getconf/");
+    Path hostsFile = new Path(dir, "hosts");
+    Path excludeFile = new Path(dir, "exclude");
+    
+    // Setup conf
+    conf.set(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HOSTS, hostsFile.toUri().getPath());
+    conf.set(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_HOSTS_EXCLUDE, excludeFile.toUri().getPath());
+    writeConfigFile(hostsFile, null);
+    writeConfigFile(excludeFile, null);    
+    String[] args = {"-includeFile"};
+    String ret = runTool(conf, args, true);
+    assertEquals(hostsFile.toUri().getPath(),ret.trim());
+    cleanupFile(localFileSys, excludeFile.getParent());
+  }
+  
+  private void writeConfigFile(Path name, ArrayList<String> nodes) 
+      throws IOException {
+      // delete if it already exists
+      if (localFileSys.exists(name)) {
+        localFileSys.delete(name, true);
+      }
+
+      FSDataOutputStream stm = localFileSys.create(name);
+      
+      if (nodes != null) {
+        for (Iterator<String> it = nodes.iterator(); it.hasNext();) {
+          String node = it.next();
+          stm.writeBytes(node);
+          stm.writeBytes("\n");
+        }
+      }
+      stm.close();
+    }
+  
+  private void cleanupFile(FileSystem fileSys, Path name) throws IOException {
+    assertTrue(fileSys.exists(name));
+    fileSys.delete(name, true);
+    assertTrue(!fileSys.exists(name));
+  }
 }