diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index e0c881fbdfb..2dc2c525c6b 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -545,6 +545,10 @@ Bug Fixes
   (Drew Farris via koji)
 
 * SOLR-1973: Empty fields in XML update messages confuse DataImportHandler. (koji)
+
+* SOLR-2221: Use StrUtils.parseBool() to get values of boolean options in DIH.
+  true/on/yes (for TRUE) and false/off/no (for FALSE) can be used for sub-options
+  (debug, verbose, synchronous, commit, clean, optimize) for full/delta-import commands. (koji)
   
 Other Changes
 ----------------------
diff --git a/solr/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/main/java/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/DataImportHandler.java b/solr/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/main/java/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/DataImportHandler.java
index 946206a5f7b..e813e4e3460 100644
--- a/solr/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/main/java/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/DataImportHandler.java
+++ b/solr/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/main/java/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/DataImportHandler.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import org.apache.solr.common.params.UpdateParams;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.ContentStreamBase;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.NamedList;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.ContentStream;
+import org.apache.solr.common.util.StrUtils;
 import org.apache.solr.core.SolrConfig;
 import org.apache.solr.core.SolrCore;
 import org.apache.solr.core.SolrResourceLoader;
@@ -101,9 +102,7 @@ public class DataImportHandler extends RequestHandlerBase implements
           myName = myName.replaceAll("/","_") ;
         }
       }
-      String debug = (String) initArgs.get(ENABLE_DEBUG);
-      if (debug != null && "no".equals(debug))
-        debugEnabled = false;
+      debugEnabled = StrUtils.parseBool((String)initArgs.get(ENABLE_DEBUG), true);
       NamedList defaults = (NamedList) initArgs.get("defaults");
       if (defaults != null) {
         String configLoc = (String) defaults.get("config");
diff --git a/solr/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/main/java/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/DataImporter.java b/solr/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/main/java/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/DataImporter.java
index e522a051441..6d9206d43ed 100644
--- a/solr/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/main/java/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/DataImporter.java
+++ b/solr/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/main/java/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/DataImporter.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import org.apache.solr.core.SolrCore;
 import org.apache.solr.schema.IndexSchema;
 import org.apache.solr.schema.SchemaField;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.ContentStream;
+import org.apache.solr.common.util.StrUtils;
 
 import static org.apache.solr.handler.dataimport.DataImportHandlerException.wrapAndThrow;
 import static org.apache.solr.handler.dataimport.DataImportHandlerException.SEVERE;
@@ -498,29 +499,28 @@ public class DataImporter {
       if (requestParams.containsKey("command"))
         command = (String) requestParams.get("command");
 
-      if ("on".equals(requestParams.get("debug"))) {
+      if (StrUtils.parseBool((String)requestParams.get("debug"),false)) {
         debug = true;
         rows = 10;
         // Set default values suitable for debug mode
         commit = false;
         clean = false;
-        verbose = "true".equals(requestParams.get("verbose"))
-                || "on".equals(requestParams.get("verbose"));
+        verbose = StrUtils.parseBool((String)requestParams.get("verbose"),false);
       }
-      syncMode = "true".equals(requestParams.get("synchronous"));
+      syncMode = StrUtils.parseBool((String)requestParams.get("synchronous"),false);
       if (DELTA_IMPORT_CMD.equals(command) || IMPORT_CMD.equals(command)) {
         clean = false;
       }
       if (requestParams.containsKey("commit"))
-        commit = Boolean.parseBoolean((String) requestParams.get("commit"));
+        commit = StrUtils.parseBool((String) requestParams.get("commit"),true);
       if (requestParams.containsKey("start"))
         start = Integer.parseInt((String) requestParams.get("start"));
       if (requestParams.containsKey("rows"))
         rows = Integer.parseInt((String) requestParams.get("rows"));
       if (requestParams.containsKey("clean"))
-        clean = Boolean.parseBoolean((String) requestParams.get("clean"));
+        clean = StrUtils.parseBool((String) requestParams.get("clean"),true);
       if (requestParams.containsKey("optimize")) {
-        optimize = Boolean.parseBoolean((String) requestParams.get("optimize"));
+        optimize = StrUtils.parseBool((String) requestParams.get("optimize"),true);
         if (optimize)
           commit = true;
       }
diff --git a/solr/src/common/org/apache/solr/common/util/StrUtils.java b/solr/src/common/org/apache/solr/common/util/StrUtils.java
index 80b7c61c991..7848358f1b6 100644
--- a/solr/src/common/org/apache/solr/common/util/StrUtils.java
+++ b/solr/src/common/org/apache/solr/common/util/StrUtils.java
@@ -238,6 +238,24 @@ public class StrUtils {
     throw new SolrException( SolrException.ErrorCode.BAD_REQUEST, "invalid boolean value: "+s );
   }
 
+  /**
+   * {@link NullPointerException} and {@link SolrException} free version of {@link #parseBool(String)}
+   * @param s
+   * @param def
+   * @return
+   */
+  public static boolean parseBool(String s, boolean def) {
+    if( s != null ) {
+      if( s.startsWith("true") || s.startsWith("on") || s.startsWith("yes") ) {
+        return true;
+      }
+      if( s.startsWith("false") || s.startsWith("off") || s.equals("no") ) {
+        return false;
+      }
+    }
+    return def;
+  }
+  
   /**
    * URLEncodes a value, replacing only enough chars so that
    * the URL may be unambiguously pasted back into a browser.