diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 5bcadfbf3a7..5e78cfbef05 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@ Release 0.91.0 - Unreleased
    HBASE-4138  If zookeeper.znode.parent is not specifed explicitly in Client
                code then HTable object loops continuously waiting for the root region
                by using /hbase as the base node.(ramkrishna.s.vasudevan)
+   HBASE-4032  HBASE-451 improperly breaks public API HRegionInfo#getTableDesc
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
    HBASE-3290  Max Compaction Size (Nicolas Spiegelberg via Stack)  
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HRegionInfo.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HRegionInfo.java
index 49746a1d24a..24b4d008b73 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HRegionInfo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HRegionInfo.java
@@ -26,9 +26,13 @@ import java.util.Arrays;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.KeyValue.KVComparator;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.migration.HRegionInfo090x;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.FSTableDescriptors;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.JenkinsHash;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.MD5Hash;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.VersionedWritable;
@@ -535,18 +539,50 @@ public class HRegionInfo extends VersionedWritable implements WritableComparable
        Bytes.equals(endKey, HConstants.EMPTY_BYTE_ARRAY));
   }
 
-  /** @return the tableDesc */
+  /**
+   * @return the tableDesc
+   * @deprecated Do not use; expensive call
+   *         use HRegionInfo.getTableNameAsString() in place of
+   *         HRegionInfo.getTableDesc().getNameAsString()
+   */
    @Deprecated
-  public HTableDescriptor getTableDesc(){
-    return null;
+  public HTableDescriptor getTableDesc() {
+    Configuration c = HBaseConfiguration.create();
+    FileSystem fs;
+    try {
+      fs = FileSystem.get(c);
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      throw new RuntimeException(e);
+    }
+    FSTableDescriptors fstd =
+      new FSTableDescriptors(fs, new Path(c.get(HConstants.HBASE_DIR)));
+    try {
+      return fstd.get(this.tableName);
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      throw new RuntimeException(e);
+    }
   }
 
   /**
    * @param newDesc new table descriptor to use
+   * @deprecated Do not use; expensive call
    */
   @Deprecated
   public void setTableDesc(HTableDescriptor newDesc) {
-    // do nothing.
+    Configuration c = HBaseConfiguration.create();
+    FileSystem fs;
+    try {
+      fs = FileSystem.get(c);
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      throw new RuntimeException(e);
+    }
+    FSTableDescriptors fstd =
+      new FSTableDescriptors(fs, new Path(c.get(HConstants.HBASE_DIR)));
+    try {
+      fstd.add(newDesc);
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      throw new RuntimeException(e);
+    }
   }
 
   /** @return true if this is the root region */
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestHRegionInfo.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestHRegionInfo.java
index 225547603ff..fcd5518a100 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestHRegionInfo.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestHRegionInfo.java
@@ -19,13 +19,20 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HRegionInfo;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HTableDescriptor;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.FSUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.MD5Hash;
-
 import org.junit.Test;
-import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 
 public class TestHRegionInfo {
   @Test
@@ -52,6 +59,25 @@ public class TestHRegionInfo {
                  nameStr);
   }
   
+  @Test
+  public void testGetSetOfHTD() {
+    HBaseTestingUtility HTU = new HBaseTestingUtility();
+    final String tablename = "testGetSetOfHTD";
+    HTableDescriptor htd = new HTableDescriptor(tablename);
+    FSUtils.createTableDescriptor(htd, HTU.getConfiguration());
+    HRegionInfo hri = new HRegionInfo(Bytes.toBytes("testGetSetOfHTD"),
+        HConstants.EMPTY_START_ROW, HConstants.EMPTY_END_ROW);
+    HTableDescriptor htd2 = hri.getTableDesc();
+    assertTrue(htd.equals(htd2));
+    final String key = "SOME_KEY";
+    assertNull(htd.getValue(key));
+    final String value = "VALUE";
+    htd.setValue(key, value);
+    hri.setTableDesc(htd);
+    HTableDescriptor htd3 = hri.getTableDesc();
+    assertTrue(htd.equals(htd3));
+  }
+  
   @Test
   public void testContainsRange() {
     HTableDescriptor tableDesc = new HTableDescriptor("testtable");