diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index d75a6aa638..a753acecf0 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -2388,6 +2388,12 @@ Release 0.20.3 - Unreleased
 
     HADOOP-7072. Remove java5 dependencies from build. (cos)
 
+Release 0.20.203.0 - 2011-5-11
+
+  BUG FIXES
+
+    HADOOP-7258. The Gzip codec should not return null decompressors. (omalley)
+
 Release 0.20.2 - 2010-2-16
 
   NEW FEATURES
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/CodecPool.java b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/CodecPool.java
index d878f62ebf..ed76012f80 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/CodecPool.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/CodecPool.java
@@ -149,6 +149,10 @@ public static void returnCompressor(Compressor compressor) {
     if (compressor == null) {
       return;
     }
+    // if the compressor can't be reused, don't pool it.
+    if (compressor.getClass().isAnnotationPresent(DoNotPool.class)) {
+      return;
+    }
     compressor.reset();
     payback(compressorPool, compressor);
   }
@@ -163,6 +167,10 @@ public static void returnDecompressor(Decompressor decompressor) {
     if (decompressor == null) {
       return;
     }
+    // if the decompressor can't be reused, don't pool it.
+    if (decompressor.getClass().isAnnotationPresent(DoNotPool.class)) {
+      return;
+    }
     decompressor.reset();
     payback(decompressorPool, decompressor);
   }
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/DoNotPool.java b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/DoNotPool.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c701b87c31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/DoNotPool.java
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.hadoop.io.compress;
+
+import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
+import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
+import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
+import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
+import java.lang.annotation.Target;
+
+/**
+ * This is a marker annotation that marks a compressor or decompressor 
+ * type as not to be pooled.
+ */
+@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
+@Target(ElementType.TYPE)
+@Documented
+public @interface DoNotPool {
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/BuiltInGzipDecompressor.java b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/BuiltInGzipDecompressor.java
index 0905f122c5..1e5525e743 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/BuiltInGzipDecompressor.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/BuiltInGzipDecompressor.java
@@ -24,12 +24,14 @@
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.PureJavaCrc32;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.Decompressor;
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.DoNotPool;
 
 /**
  * A {@link Decompressor} based on the popular gzip compressed file format.
  * http://www.gzip.org/
  *
  */
+@DoNotPool
 public class BuiltInGzipDecompressor implements Decompressor {
   private static final int GZIP_MAGIC_ID = 0x8b1f;  // if read as LE short int
   private static final int GZIP_DEFLATE_METHOD = 8;
diff --git a/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/TestCodec.java b/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/TestCodec.java
index 26981d312f..8981308cb3 100644
--- a/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/TestCodec.java
+++ b/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/TestCodec.java
@@ -675,7 +675,8 @@ public void testGzipCodecWrite(boolean useNative) throws IOException {
     // Create a GZIP text file via the Compressor interface.
     CompressionCodecFactory ccf = new CompressionCodecFactory(conf);
     CompressionCodec codec = ccf.getCodec(new Path("foo.gz"));
-    assertTrue("Codec for .gz file is not GzipCodec", codec instanceof GzipCodec);
+    assertTrue("Codec for .gz file is not GzipCodec", 
+               codec instanceof GzipCodec);
 
     final String msg = "This is the message we are going to compress.";
     final String tmpDir = System.getProperty("test.build.data", "/tmp/");
@@ -715,4 +716,53 @@ public void testGzipCodecWriteJava() throws IOException {
   public void testGzipNativeCodecWrite() throws IOException {
     testGzipCodecWrite(true);
   }
+
+  public void testCodecPoolAndGzipDecompressor() {
+    // BuiltInZlibInflater should not be used as the GzipCodec decompressor.
+    // Assert that this is the case.
+
+    // Don't use native libs for this test.
+    Configuration conf = new Configuration();
+    conf.setBoolean("hadoop.native.lib", false);
+    assertFalse("ZlibFactory is using native libs against request",
+                ZlibFactory.isNativeZlibLoaded(conf));
+
+    // This should give us a BuiltInZlibInflater.
+    Decompressor zlibDecompressor = ZlibFactory.getZlibDecompressor(conf);
+    assertNotNull("zlibDecompressor is null!", zlibDecompressor);
+    assertTrue("ZlibFactory returned unexpected inflator",
+	       zlibDecompressor instanceof BuiltInZlibInflater);
+    // its createOutputStream() just wraps the existing stream in a
+    // java.util.zip.GZIPOutputStream.
+    CompressionCodecFactory ccf = new CompressionCodecFactory(conf);
+    CompressionCodec codec = ccf.getCodec(new Path("foo.gz"));
+    assertTrue("Codec for .gz file is not GzipCodec", 
+	       codec instanceof GzipCodec);
+
+    // make sure we don't get a null decompressor
+    Decompressor codecDecompressor = codec.createDecompressor();
+    if (null == codecDecompressor) {
+      fail("Got null codecDecompressor");
+    }
+
+    // Asking the CodecPool for a decompressor for GzipCodec
+    // should not return null
+    Decompressor poolDecompressor = CodecPool.getDecompressor(codec);
+    if (null == poolDecompressor) {
+      fail("Got null poolDecompressor");
+    }
+    // return a couple decompressors
+    CodecPool.returnDecompressor(zlibDecompressor);
+    CodecPool.returnDecompressor(poolDecompressor);
+    Decompressor poolDecompressor2 = CodecPool.getDecompressor(codec);
+    if (poolDecompressor.getClass() == BuiltInGzipDecompressor.class) {
+      if (poolDecompressor == poolDecompressor2) {
+        fail("Reused java gzip decompressor in pool");
+      }
+    } else {
+      if (poolDecompressor != poolDecompressor2) {
+        fail("Did not reuse native gzip decompressor in pool");
+      }
+    }
+  }
 }