diff --git a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/TestUtil.java b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/TestUtil.java
index a634f02c73b..71648c595f2 100644
--- a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/TestUtil.java
+++ b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/TestUtil.java
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ public final class TestUtil {
 
   private static LinkedHashSet<File> rm(LinkedHashSet<File> unremoved, File... locations) {
     for (File location : locations) {
-      if (location.exists()) {
+      if (location != null && location.exists()) {
         if (location.isDirectory()) {
           rm(unremoved, location.listFiles());
         }
diff --git a/solr/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/test/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/TestSolrEntityProcessorEndToEnd.java b/solr/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/test/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/TestSolrEntityProcessorEndToEnd.java
index d7f36782e61..c1d233e886d 100644
--- a/solr/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/test/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/TestSolrEntityProcessorEndToEnd.java
+++ b/solr/contrib/dataimporthandler/src/test/org/apache/solr/handler/dataimport/TestSolrEntityProcessorEndToEnd.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Map.Entry;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
+import org.apache.lucene.util.TestUtil;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.SolrServerException;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.embedded.JettySolrRunner;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.impl.HttpSolrServer;
@@ -291,7 +292,6 @@ public class TestSolrEntityProcessorEndToEnd extends AbstractDataImportHandlerTe
   }
   
   private static class SolrInstance {
-
     File homeDir;
     File confDir;
     
@@ -316,8 +316,7 @@ public class TestSolrEntityProcessorEndToEnd extends AbstractDataImportHandlerTe
     }
 
     public void setUp() throws Exception {
-      String home = createTempDir().getAbsolutePath();
-      homeDir = new File(home  + "inst");
+      homeDir = createTempDir();
       initCoreDataDir = new File(homeDir + "/collection1", "data");
       confDir = new File(homeDir + "/collection1", "conf");
       
@@ -334,11 +333,10 @@ public class TestSolrEntityProcessorEndToEnd extends AbstractDataImportHandlerTe
       f = new File(confDir, "data-config.xml");
       FileUtils.copyFile(getFile(SOURCE_CONF_DIR + "dataconfig-contentstream.xml"), f);
     }
-    
+
     public void tearDown() throws Exception {
-      recurseDelete(homeDir);
+      TestUtil.rm(homeDir);
     }
-    
   }
   
   private JettySolrRunner createJetty(SolrInstance instance) throws Exception {
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/BasicDistributedZk2Test.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/BasicDistributedZk2Test.java
index 18df162669e..58693ee8ef7 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/BasicDistributedZk2Test.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/BasicDistributedZk2Test.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
 import org.apache.http.impl.client.BasicResponseHandler;
+import org.apache.lucene.util.TestUtil;
 import org.apache.solr.SolrTestCaseJ4.SuppressSSL;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.SolrQuery;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.SolrServer;
@@ -487,7 +488,7 @@ public class BasicDistributedZk2Test extends AbstractFullDistribZkTestBase {
     assertEquals(Arrays.asList(files).toString(), 1, files.length);
     File snapDir = files[0];
     
-    AbstractSolrTestCase.recurseDelete(snapDir); // clean up the snap dir
+    TestUtil.rm(snapDir);
   }
   
   private void addNewReplica() throws Exception {
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/SolrXmlInZkTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/SolrXmlInZkTest.java
index 45f05b0eb4b..de2dca7fef6 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/SolrXmlInZkTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/SolrXmlInZkTest.java
@@ -59,7 +59,6 @@ public class SolrXmlInZkTest extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
 
   private void setUpZkAndDiskXml(boolean toZk, boolean leaveOnLocal) throws Exception {
     File tmpDir = createTempDir();
-    recurseDelete(tmpDir);
     File solrHome = new File(tmpDir, "home");
     copyMinConf(new File(solrHome, "myCollect"));
     if (leaveOnLocal) {
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/handler/TestReplicationHandler.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/handler/TestReplicationHandler.java
index 198dd9ff252..524eba52354 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/handler/TestReplicationHandler.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/handler/TestReplicationHandler.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
@@ -1549,11 +1550,9 @@ public class TestReplicationHandler extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
           fail(deleteBackupThread.fail);
         }
       }
-    }finally {
-      for (File dir : snapDir) if(dir !=null) AbstractSolrTestCase.recurseDelete(dir);
+    } finally {
+      TestUtil.rm(snapDir);
     }
-    
-
   }
 
   /* character copy of file using UTF-8 */
@@ -1703,7 +1702,7 @@ public class TestReplicationHandler extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
     }
 
     public void tearDown() throws Exception {
-      AbstractSolrTestCase.recurseDelete(homeDir.getParentFile());
+      TestUtil.rm(homeDir);
     }
 
     public void copyConfigFile(String srcFile, String destFile) 
diff --git a/solr/solrj/src/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/TestLBHttpSolrServer.java b/solr/solrj/src/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/TestLBHttpSolrServer.java
index dc7f82bb3b5..d77cc171942 100644
--- a/solr/solrj/src/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/TestLBHttpSolrServer.java
+++ b/solr/solrj/src/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/TestLBHttpSolrServer.java
@@ -302,11 +302,8 @@ public class TestLBHttpSolrServer extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
     }
 
     public void tearDown() throws Exception {
-      try {
-        jetty.stop();
-      } catch (Exception e) {
-      }
-      AbstractSolrTestCase.recurseDelete(homeDir);
+      if (jetty != null) jetty.stop();
+      TestUtil.rm(homeDir);
     }
 
     public void startJetty() throws Exception {
diff --git a/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/SolrTestCaseJ4.java b/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/SolrTestCaseJ4.java
index ac81050ac94..c1833b78763 100644
--- a/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/SolrTestCaseJ4.java
+++ b/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/SolrTestCaseJ4.java
@@ -1012,17 +1012,18 @@ public abstract class SolrTestCaseJ4 extends LuceneTestCase {
     public String toString() { return xml; }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * @see TestUtil#rm(File...)
+   */
+  @Deprecated()
   public static boolean recurseDelete(File f) {
-    if(f == null || !f.exists()) return false;
-    if (f.isDirectory()) {
-      for (File sub : f.listFiles()) {
-        if (!recurseDelete(sub)) {
-          System.err.println("!!!! WARNING: best effort to remove " + sub.getAbsolutePath() + " FAILED !!!!!");
-          return false;
-        }
-      }
+    try {
+      TestUtil.rm(f);
+      return true;
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      System.err.println(e.toString());
+      return false;
     }
-    return f.delete();
   }
   
   public void clearIndex() {