diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
index ed12a7bc8a..bccecbef59 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -129,6 +129,9 @@ Release 2.4.1 - UNRELEASED
     YARN-1934. Fixed a potential NPE in ZKRMStateStore caused by handling
     Disconnected event from ZK. (Karthik Kambatla via jianhe)
 
+    YARN-1931. Private API change in YARN-1824 in 2.4 broke compatibility 
+    with previous releases (Sandy Ryza via tgraves)
+
 Release 2.4.0 - 2014-04-07 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/util/Apps.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/util/Apps.java
index bf5ba7ba4c..cf3940fd9c 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/util/Apps.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/util/Apps.java
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.exceptions.YarnRuntimeException;
 
 /**
- * Yarn application related utilities
+ * Yarn internal application-related utilities
  */
 @Private
 public class Apps {
@@ -97,6 +97,17 @@ public static void setEnvFromInputString(Map<String, String> env,
       }
     }
   }
+  
+  /**
+   * This older version of this method is kept around for compatibility
+   * because downstream frameworks like Spark and Tez have been using it.
+   * Downstream frameworks are expected to move off of it.
+   */
+  @Deprecated
+  public static void setEnvFromInputString(Map<String, String> env,
+      String envString) {
+    setEnvFromInputString(env, envString, File.pathSeparator);
+  }
 
   @Public
   @Unstable
@@ -112,6 +123,18 @@ public static void addToEnvironment(
     environment.put(StringInterner.weakIntern(variable), 
         StringInterner.weakIntern(val));
   }
+  
+  /**
+   * This older version of this method is kept around for compatibility
+   * because downstream frameworks like Spark and Tez have been using it.
+   * Downstream frameworks are expected to move off of it.
+   */
+  @Deprecated
+  public static void addToEnvironment(
+      Map<String, String> environment,
+      String variable, String value) {
+    addToEnvironment(environment, variable, value, File.pathSeparator);
+  }
 
   public static String crossPlatformify(String var) {
     return ApplicationConstants.PARAMETER_EXPANSION_LEFT + var