diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FileUtil.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FileUtil.java
index fd5166c69a..ba9bb4eafe 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FileUtil.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FileUtil.java
@@ -611,7 +611,7 @@ public static class HardLink extends org.apache.hadoop.fs.HardLink {
    */
   public static int symLink(String target, String linkname) throws IOException{
     String cmd = "ln -s " + target + " " + linkname;
-    Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{"ln","-s",target,linkname}, null);
+    Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd, null);
     int returnVal = -1;
     try{
       returnVal = p.waitFor();