diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 2dbf9b67864..01d54baf4f5 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ Release 0.19.0 - Unreleased
    HBASE-853   [shell] Cannot describe meta tables (Izaak Rubin via Stack)
    HBASE-844   Can't pass script to hbase shell 
    HBASE-837   Add unit tests for ThriftServer.HBaseHandler (Izaak Rubin via Stack)
+   HBASE-913   Classes using log4j directly
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
    HBASE-901   Add a limit to key length, check key and value length on client side
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapred/IndexTableReduce.java b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapred/IndexTableReduce.java
index 443c6e25356..5d3832ab79a 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapred/IndexTableReduce.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapred/IndexTableReduce.java
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.Map;
 
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;      //TODO: remove
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.Cell;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.ImmutableBytesWritable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.RowResult;
@@ -33,9 +32,10 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.MapReduceBase;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.OutputCollector;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.Reducer;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.Reporter;
-import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
 import org.apache.lucene.document.Document;
 import org.apache.lucene.document.Field;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 
 /**
  * Construct a Lucene document per row, which is consumed by IndexOutputFormat
@@ -43,8 +43,7 @@ import org.apache.lucene.document.Field;
  */
 public class IndexTableReduce extends MapReduceBase implements
     Reducer<ImmutableBytesWritable, RowResult, ImmutableBytesWritable, LuceneDocumentWrapper> {
-  private static final Logger LOG = Logger.getLogger(IndexTableReduce.class);
-
+  private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(IndexTableReduce.class);
   private IndexConfiguration indexConf;
 
   @Override
diff --git a/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/AbstractMergeTestBase.java b/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/AbstractMergeTestBase.java
index 864329d11af..a96353b20bb 100644
--- a/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/AbstractMergeTestBase.java
+++ b/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/AbstractMergeTestBase.java
@@ -27,12 +27,13 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.BatchUpdate;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.ImmutableBytesWritable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.HRegion;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
-import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 
 /** Abstract base class for merge tests */
 public abstract class AbstractMergeTestBase extends HBaseClusterTestCase {
-  static final Logger LOG =
-    Logger.getLogger(AbstractMergeTestBase.class.getName());
+  static final Log LOG =
+    LogFactory.getLog(AbstractMergeTestBase.class.getName());
   protected static final byte [] COLUMN_NAME = Bytes.toBytes("contents:");
   protected final Random rand = new Random();
   protected HTableDescriptor desc;
diff --git a/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MapFilePerformanceEvaluation.java b/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MapFilePerformanceEvaluation.java
index 93bffd97c2a..a5321c73ab2 100644
--- a/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MapFilePerformanceEvaluation.java
+++ b/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MapFilePerformanceEvaluation.java
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.ImmutableBytesWritable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.MapFile;
-import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 
 /**
  * <p>
@@ -42,8 +43,8 @@ public class MapFilePerformanceEvaluation {
   private static final int ROW_LENGTH = 1000;
   private static final int ROW_COUNT = 1000000;
   
-  static final Logger LOG =
-    Logger.getLogger(MapFilePerformanceEvaluation.class.getName());
+  static final Log LOG =
+    LogFactory.getLog(MapFilePerformanceEvaluation.class.getName());
   
   static ImmutableBytesWritable format(final int i, ImmutableBytesWritable w) {
     String v = Integer.toString(i);
diff --git a/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MiniHBaseCluster.java b/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MiniHBaseCluster.java
index 670cde6e121..d436be8b356 100644
--- a/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MiniHBaseCluster.java
+++ b/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MiniHBaseCluster.java
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ package org.apache.hadoop.hbase;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
 
-import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.master.HMaster;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.HRegionServer;
@@ -33,8 +34,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.HRegion;
  * each server.
  */
 public class MiniHBaseCluster implements HConstants {
-  static final Logger LOG =
-    Logger.getLogger(MiniHBaseCluster.class.getName());
+  static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(MiniHBaseCluster.class.getName());
   
   private HBaseConfiguration conf;
   private LocalHBaseCluster hbaseCluster;
diff --git a/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapred/TestTableIndex.java b/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapred/TestTableIndex.java
index 89fa55f2f21..f86fcba5e86 100644
--- a/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapred/TestTableIndex.java
+++ b/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapred/TestTableIndex.java
@@ -27,8 +27,6 @@ import java.util.Random;
 import junit.framework.TestSuite;
 import junit.textui.TestRunner;
 
-import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
-import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileStatus;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileUtil;
@@ -47,8 +45,8 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.FileOutputFormat;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.JobClient;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.JobConf;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.MiniMRCluster;
-import org.apache.log4j.Level;
-import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.IndexSearcher;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.MultiSearcher;
@@ -82,8 +80,6 @@ public class TestTableIndex extends MultiRegionTable {
     desc = new HTableDescriptor(TABLE_NAME);
     desc.addFamily(new HColumnDescriptor(INPUT_COLUMN));
     desc.addFamily(new HColumnDescriptor(OUTPUT_COLUMN));
-    // Enable DEBUG-level MR logging.
-    Logger.getLogger("org.apache.hadoop.mapred").setLevel(Level.DEBUG);
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestHRegion.java b/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestHRegion.java
index f07664f3b3d..fc8b54a8295 100644
--- a/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestHRegion.java
+++ b/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestHRegion.java
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.dfs.MiniDFSCluster;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestCase;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HTableDescriptor;
-import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HStoreKey;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HColumnDescriptor;
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
  * HRegions or in the HBaseMaster, so only basic testing is possible.
  */
 public class TestHRegion extends HBaseTestCase {
-  static final Logger LOG = Logger.getLogger(TestHRegion.class);
+  static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(TestHRegion.class);
   
   /**
    * Since all the "tests" depend on the results of the previous test, they are
diff --git a/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestSplit.java b/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestSplit.java
index f8270080548..23b0c407f3a 100644
--- a/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestSplit.java
+++ b/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestSplit.java
@@ -24,14 +24,11 @@ import java.util.TreeMap;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
-import org.apache.log4j.Level;
-import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HStoreKey;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseClusterTestCase;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HColumnDescriptor;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HStoreKey;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HTableDescriptor;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.NotServingRegionException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.UnknownScannerException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.BatchUpdate;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.Cell;
@@ -42,7 +39,6 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
  * split and manufactures odd-ball split scenarios.
  */
 public class TestSplit extends HBaseClusterTestCase {
-  @SuppressWarnings("hiding")
   static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(TestSplit.class.getName());
   
   /** constructor */
@@ -64,10 +60,6 @@ public class TestSplit extends HBaseClusterTestCase {
     // This size should make it so we always split using the addContent
     // below.  After adding all data, the first region is 1.3M
     conf.setLong("hbase.hregion.max.filesize", 1024 * 128);
-    
-    Logger.getRootLogger().setLevel(Level.WARN);
-    Logger.getLogger(this.getClass().getPackage().getName()).
-      setLevel(Level.DEBUG);
   }
 
   /**