diff --git a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/VersionAnnotation.java b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/VersionAnnotation.java
index db2a1d5b654..34f0336b564 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/VersionAnnotation.java
+++ b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/VersionAnnotation.java
@@ -57,4 +57,10 @@ public @interface VersionAnnotation {
    * @return the revision number as a string (eg. "451451")
    */
   String revision();
+
+  /**
+   * Get a checksum of the source files from which HBase was compiled.
+   * @return a string that uniquely identifies the source
+   **/
+  String srcChecksum();
 }
diff --git a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/VersionInfo.java b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/VersionInfo.java
index 8921935aba4..cd78eba1f30 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/VersionInfo.java
+++ b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/VersionInfo.java
@@ -93,11 +93,20 @@ public class VersionInfo {
   static String[] versionReport() {
     return new String[] {
       "HBase " + getVersion(),
-      "Subversion " + getUrl() + " -r " + getRevision(),
-      "Compiled by " + getUser() + " on " + getDate()
+      "Source code repository " + getUrl() + " -r " + getRevision(),
+      "Compiled by " + getUser() + " on " + getDate(),
+      "From source with checksum " + getSrcChecksum()
       };
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Get the checksum of the source files from which Hadoop was compiled.
+   * @return a string that uniquely identifies the source
+   **/
+  public static String getSrcChecksum() {
+    return version != null ? version.srcChecksum() : "Unknown";
+  }
+
   public static void writeTo(PrintWriter out) {
     for (String line : versionReport()) {
       out.println(line);
diff --git a/hbase-common/src/saveVersion.sh b/hbase-common/src/saveVersion.sh
index 5edb8eaddd4..890dc5a8415 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/saveVersion.sh
+++ b/hbase-common/src/saveVersion.sh
@@ -41,6 +41,17 @@ else
   revision="Unknown"
   url="file://$cwd"
 fi
+which md5sum > /dev/null
+if [ "$?" != "0" ] ; then
+  which md5 > /dev/null
+  if [ "$?" != "0" ] ; then
+    srcChecksum="Unknown"
+  else
+    srcChecksum=`find hbase-*/src/main/ | grep -e "\.java" -e "\.proto" | LC_ALL=C sort | xargs md5 | md5 | cut -d ' ' -f 1`
+  fi
+else
+  srcChecksum=`find hbase-*/src/main/ | grep -e "\.java" -e "\.proto" | LC_ALL=C sort | xargs md5sum | md5sum | cut -d ' ' -f 1`
+fi
 popd
 
 mkdir -p "$outputDirectory/org/apache/hadoop/hbase"
@@ -49,7 +60,8 @@ cat >"$outputDirectory/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/package-info.java" <<EOF
  * Generated by src/saveVersion.sh
  */
 @VersionAnnotation(version="$version", revision="$revision",
-                         user="$user", date="$date", url="$url")
+                         user="$user", date="$date", url="$url",
+                         srcChecksum="$srcChecksum")
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase;
 EOF
 
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/jamon/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tmpl/master/MasterStatusTmpl.jamon b/hbase-server/src/main/jamon/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tmpl/master/MasterStatusTmpl.jamon
index ae3e12e0084..0e3258820c5 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/jamon/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tmpl/master/MasterStatusTmpl.jamon
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/jamon/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tmpl/master/MasterStatusTmpl.jamon
@@ -232,6 +232,11 @@ AssignmentManager assignmentManager = master.getAssignmentManager();
                     <td><% org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.VersionInfo.getDate() %>, <% org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.VersionInfo.getUser() %></td>
                     <td>When HBase version was compiled and by whom</td>
                 </tr>
+                <tr>
+                    <td>HBase Source Checksum</td>
+                    <td><% org.apache.hadoop.util.VersionInfo.getSrcChecksum() %></td>
+                    <td>HBase source MD5 checksum</td>
+                </tr>
                 <tr>
                     <td>Hadoop Version</td>
                     <td><% org.apache.hadoop.util.VersionInfo.getVersion() %>, r<% org.apache.hadoop.util.VersionInfo.getRevision() %></td>
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/jamon/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tmpl/regionserver/RSStatusTmpl.jamon b/hbase-server/src/main/jamon/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tmpl/regionserver/RSStatusTmpl.jamon
index 3fcac7325f3..68b4b7d57f9 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/jamon/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tmpl/regionserver/RSStatusTmpl.jamon
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/jamon/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/tmpl/regionserver/RSStatusTmpl.jamon
@@ -140,6 +140,11 @@ org.apache.hadoop.hbase.zookeeper.MasterAddressTracker;
             <td><% org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.VersionInfo.getDate() %>, <% org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.VersionInfo.getUser() %></td>
             <td>When HBase version was compiled and by whom</td>
         </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td>HBase Source Checksum</td>
+            <td><% org.apache.hadoop.util.VersionInfo.getSrcChecksum() %></td>
+            <td>HBase source MD5 checksum</td>
+        </tr>
         <tr>
             <td>Zookeeper Quorum</td>
             <td><% regionServer.getZooKeeper().getQuorum() %></td>