diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 4a47c4fa62..3b9009d40b 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1224,6 +1224,8 @@ Release 0.23.6 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-9038. unit-tests for AllocatorPerContext.PathIterator (Ivan A.
     Veselovsky via bobby)
 
+    HADOOP-9105. FsShell -moveFromLocal erroneously fails (daryn via bobby)
+
 Release 0.23.5 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Command.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Command.java
index f229d1f223..8c5e88058e 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Command.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Command.java
@@ -311,6 +311,7 @@ protected void processPaths(PathData parent, PathData ... items)
         if (recursive && item.stat.isDirectory()) {
           recursePath(item);
         }
+        postProcessPath(item);
       } catch (IOException e) {
         displayError(e);
       }
@@ -329,6 +330,15 @@ protected void processPath(PathData item) throws IOException {
     throw new RuntimeException("processPath() is not implemented");    
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Hook for commands to implement an operation to be applied on each
+   * path for the command after being processed successfully
+   * @param item a {@link PathData} object
+   * @throws IOException if anything goes wrong...
+   */
+  protected void postProcessPath(PathData item) throws IOException {    
+  }
+
   /**
    *  Gets the directory listing for a path and invokes
    *  {@link #processPaths(PathData, PathData...)}
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/MoveCommands.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/MoveCommands.java
index e1ad1a2ef6..ffb3483ef2 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/MoveCommands.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/MoveCommands.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.PathIOException;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.PathExistsException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.shell.CopyCommands.CopyFromLocal;
 
 /** Various commands for moving files */
@@ -49,7 +50,21 @@ public static class MoveFromLocal extends CopyFromLocal {
 
     @Override
     protected void processPath(PathData src, PathData target) throws IOException {
-      target.fs.moveFromLocalFile(src.path, target.path);
+      // unlike copy, don't merge existing dirs during move
+      if (target.exists && target.stat.isDirectory()) {
+        throw new PathExistsException(target.toString());
+      }
+      super.processPath(src, target);
+    }
+    
+    @Override
+    protected void postProcessPath(PathData src) throws IOException {
+      if (!src.fs.delete(src.path, false)) {
+        // we have no way to know the actual error...
+        PathIOException e = new PathIOException(src.toString());
+        e.setOperation("remove");
+        throw e;
+      }
     }
   }
 
@@ -95,4 +110,4 @@ protected void processPath(PathData src, PathData target) throws IOException {
       }
     }
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFsShellCopy.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFsShellCopy.java
index 5b4f585c19..72df11e6df 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFsShellCopy.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFsShellCopy.java
@@ -357,6 +357,66 @@ public void testCopyMerge() throws Exception {
     assertEquals(0, exit);
     assertEquals("f1\ndf1\ndf2\ndf3\nf2\n", readFile("out"));
   }
+
+
+  @Test
+  public void testMoveFileFromLocal() throws Exception {
+    Path testRoot = new Path(testRootDir, "testPutFile");
+    lfs.delete(testRoot, true);
+    lfs.mkdirs(testRoot);
+
+    Path target = new Path(testRoot, "target");    
+    Path srcFile = new Path(testRoot, new Path("srcFile"));
+    lfs.createNewFile(srcFile);
+
+    int exit = shell.run(new String[]{
+        "-moveFromLocal", srcFile.toString(), target.toString() });
+    assertEquals(0, exit);
+    assertFalse(lfs.exists(srcFile));
+    assertTrue(lfs.exists(target));
+    assertTrue(lfs.isFile(target));
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void testMoveDirFromLocal() throws Exception {    
+    Path testRoot = new Path(testRootDir, "testPutDir");
+    lfs.delete(testRoot, true);
+    lfs.mkdirs(testRoot);
+    
+    Path srcDir = new Path(testRoot, "srcDir");
+    lfs.mkdirs(srcDir);
+    Path targetDir = new Path(testRoot, "target");    
+
+    int exit = shell.run(new String[]{
+        "-moveFromLocal", srcDir.toString(), targetDir.toString() });
+    assertEquals(0, exit);
+    assertFalse(lfs.exists(srcDir));
+    assertTrue(lfs.exists(targetDir));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testMoveDirFromLocalDestExists() throws Exception {    
+    Path testRoot = new Path(testRootDir, "testPutDir");
+    lfs.delete(testRoot, true);
+    lfs.mkdirs(testRoot);
+    
+    Path srcDir = new Path(testRoot, "srcDir");
+    lfs.mkdirs(srcDir);
+    Path targetDir = new Path(testRoot, "target");
+    lfs.mkdirs(targetDir);
+
+    int exit = shell.run(new String[]{
+        "-moveFromLocal", srcDir.toString(), targetDir.toString() });
+    assertEquals(0, exit);
+    assertFalse(lfs.exists(srcDir));
+    assertTrue(lfs.exists(new Path(targetDir, srcDir.getName())));
+    
+    lfs.mkdirs(srcDir);
+    exit = shell.run(new String[]{
+        "-moveFromLocal", srcDir.toString(), targetDir.toString() });
+    assertEquals(1, exit);
+    assertTrue(lfs.exists(srcDir));
+  }
   
   private void createFile(Path ... paths) throws IOException {
     for (Path path : paths) {