diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index f75986e4da..e51f25189b 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -992,6 +992,9 @@ Release 2.7.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-10478. Fix new findbugs warnings in hadoop-maven-plugins.
     (Li Lu via wheat9)
 
+    HADOOP-8642. Document that io.native.lib.available only controls native bz2
+    and zlib compression codecs. (aajisaka)
+
 Release 2.6.1 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml
index 41121f18f8..80dd15b218 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml
@@ -41,7 +41,10 @@
 <property>
   <name>io.native.lib.available</name>
   <value>true</value>
-  <description>Should native hadoop libraries, if present, be used.</description>
+  <description>Controls whether to use native libraries for bz2 and zlib
+    compression codecs or not. The property does not control any other native
+    libraries.
+  </description>
 </property>
 
 <property>