diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
index 6453be88294..021fd8ebe6f 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
@@ -700,7 +700,7 @@ public class HRegion implements HConstants {
               return midKey;
           }
         }
-        LOG.info("starting " (majorCompaction? : "major" : "") + 
+        LOG.info("starting " + (majorCompaction? "major" : "") + 
             " compaction on region " + this);
         long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
         doRegionCompactionPrep();