diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index d2732492bd..d5993698de 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -89,6 +89,9 @@ Trunk (unreleased changes)
     MAPREDUCE-3664. Federation Documentation has incorrect configuration example.
     (Brandon Li via jitendra)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-1740. NPE in getMatchingLevelForNodes when node locations are 
+    variable depth (ahmed via tucu) [IMPORTANT: this is dead code in trunk]
+
 Release 0.23.3 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/JobInProgress.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/JobInProgress.java
index 1bac8de3fe..9f92707077 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/JobInProgress.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/JobInProgress.java
@@ -1596,16 +1596,37 @@ public synchronized Task obtainNewReduceTask(TaskTrackerStatus tts,
   
   // returns the (cache)level at which the nodes matches
   private int getMatchingLevelForNodes(Node n1, Node n2) {
+    return getMatchingLevelForNodes(n1, n2, this.maxLevel);
+  }
+
+  static int getMatchingLevelForNodes(Node n1, Node n2, int maxLevel) {
     int count = 0;
+
+    // In the case that the two nodes are at different levels in the
+    // node heirarchy, walk upwards on the deeper one until the
+    // levels are equal. Each of these counts as "distance" since it
+    // assumedly is going through another rack.
+    int level1=n1.getLevel(), level2=n2.getLevel();
+    while(n1!=null && level1>level2) {
+      n1 = n1.getParent();
+      level1--;
+      count++;
+    }
+    while(n2!=null && level2>level1) {
+      n2 = n2.getParent();
+      level2--;
+      count++;
+    }
+
     do {
-      if (n1.equals(n2)) {
-        return count;
+      if (n1.equals(n2) || count >= maxLevel) {
+        return Math.min(count, maxLevel);
       }
       ++count;
       n1 = n1.getParent();
       n2 = n2.getParent();
     } while (n1 != null);
-    return this.maxLevel;
+    return maxLevel;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/src/test/mapred/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestJobInProgress.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/src/test/mapred/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestJobInProgress.java
index fc74528a01..ea100aab08 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/src/test/mapred/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestJobInProgress.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/src/test/mapred/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestJobInProgress.java
@@ -29,10 +29,9 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 
-import junit.extensions.TestSetup;
-import junit.framework.Test;
-import junit.framework.TestCase;
-import junit.framework.TestSuite;
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
@@ -47,11 +46,13 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.server.jobtracker.JTConfig;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.split.JobSplit.TaskSplitMetaInfo;
 import org.apache.hadoop.net.DNSToSwitchMapping;
+import org.apache.hadoop.net.NetworkTopology;
 import org.apache.hadoop.net.Node;
+import org.apache.hadoop.net.NodeBase;
 import org.apache.hadoop.net.StaticMapping;
 
 @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
-public class TestJobInProgress extends TestCase {
+public class TestJobInProgress {
   static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(TestJobInProgress.class);
 
   static FakeJobTracker jobTracker;
@@ -75,25 +76,21 @@ public class TestJobInProgress extends TestCase {
   static int numUniqueHosts = hosts.length;
   static int clusterSize = trackers.length;
 
-  public static Test suite() {
-    TestSetup setup = new TestSetup(new TestSuite(TestJobInProgress.class)) {
-      protected void setUp() throws Exception {
-        JobConf conf = new JobConf();
-        conf.set(JTConfig.JT_IPC_ADDRESS, "localhost:0");
-        conf.set(JTConfig.JT_HTTP_ADDRESS, "0.0.0.0:0");
-        conf.setClass("topology.node.switch.mapping.impl", 
-            StaticMapping.class, DNSToSwitchMapping.class);
-        jobTracker = new FakeJobTracker(conf, new FakeClock(), trackers);
-        // Set up the Topology Information
-        for (int i = 0; i < hosts.length; i++) {
-          StaticMapping.addNodeToRack(hosts[i], racks[i]);
-        }
-        for (String s: trackers) {
-          FakeObjectUtilities.establishFirstContact(jobTracker, s);
-        }
-      }
-    };
-    return setup;
+  @BeforeClass
+  public static void setup() throws Exception {
+    JobConf conf = new JobConf();
+    conf.set(JTConfig.JT_IPC_ADDRESS, "localhost:0");
+    conf.set(JTConfig.JT_HTTP_ADDRESS, "0.0.0.0:0");
+    conf.setClass("topology.node.switch.mapping.impl",
+                  StaticMapping.class, DNSToSwitchMapping.class);
+    jobTracker = new FakeJobTracker(conf, new FakeClock(), trackers);
+    // Set up the Topology Information
+    for (int i = 0; i < hosts.length; i++) {
+      StaticMapping.addNodeToRack(hosts[i], racks[i]);
+    }
+    for (String s: trackers) {
+      FakeObjectUtilities.establishFirstContact(jobTracker, s);
+    }
   }
 
   static class MyFakeJobInProgress extends FakeJobInProgress {
@@ -157,6 +154,7 @@ public TaskAttemptID findAndRunNewTask(boolean isMap,
     }
   }
 
+  //@Test
   public void testPendingMapTaskCount() throws Exception {
 
     int numMaps = 4;
@@ -259,6 +257,7 @@ static void testRunningTaskCount(boolean speculation)  throws Exception {
 
   }
 
+  //@Test
   public void testRunningTaskCount() throws Exception {
     // test with spec = false 
     testRunningTaskCount(false);
@@ -287,6 +286,7 @@ static void checkTaskCounts(JobInProgress jip, int runningMaps,
     assertEquals(pendingReduces, jip.pendingReduces());
   }
 
+  //@Test
   public void testJobSummary() throws Exception {
     int numMaps = 2;
     int numReds = 2;
@@ -341,4 +341,35 @@ public void testJobSummary() throws Exception {
     assertEquals("firstReduceTaskLaunchTime", 3,
         jspy.getFirstTaskLaunchTimes().get(TaskType.REDUCE).longValue());
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testLocality() throws Exception {
+    NetworkTopology nt = new NetworkTopology();
+
+    Node r1n1 = new NodeBase("/default/rack1/node1");
+    nt.add(r1n1);
+    Node r1n2 = new NodeBase("/default/rack1/node2");
+    nt.add(r1n2);
+
+    Node r2n3 = new NodeBase("/default/rack2/node3");
+    nt.add(r2n3);
+
+    Node r2n4 = new NodeBase("/default/rack2/s1/node4");
+    nt.add(r2n4);
+
+    LOG.debug("r1n1 parent: " + r1n1.getParent() + "\n" +
+              "r1n2 parent: " + r1n2.getParent() + "\n" +
+              "r2n3 parent: " + r2n3.getParent() + "\n" +
+              "r2n4 parent: " + r2n4.getParent());
+
+    // Same host
+    assertEquals(0, JobInProgress.getMatchingLevelForNodes(r1n1, r1n1, 3));
+    // Same rack
+    assertEquals(1, JobInProgress.getMatchingLevelForNodes(r1n1, r1n2, 3));
+    // Different rack
+    assertEquals(2, JobInProgress.getMatchingLevelForNodes(r1n1, r2n3, 3));
+    // Different rack at different depth
+    assertEquals(3, JobInProgress.getMatchingLevelForNodes(r1n1, r2n4, 3));
+  }
+
 }