diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index db82a6c6f5..b39e94424f 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -684,6 +684,9 @@ Branch-2 ( Unreleased changes )
     HDFS-3683. Edit log replay progress indicator shows >100% complete. (Plamen
     Jeliazkov via atm)
 
+    HDFS-3856. TestHDFSServerPorts failure is causing surefire fork failure.
+    (Colin Patrick McCabe via eli)
+
   BREAKDOWN OF HDFS-3042 SUBTASKS
 
     HDFS-2185. HDFS portion of ZK-based FailoverController (todd)
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
index 083b16be68..c1bca3b45b 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
@@ -511,13 +511,13 @@ private void stopCommonServices() {
   }
   
   private void startTrashEmptier(Configuration conf) throws IOException {
-    long trashInterval = namesystem.getServerDefaults().getTrashInterval();  
+    long trashInterval =
+        conf.getLong(FS_TRASH_INTERVAL_KEY, FS_TRASH_INTERVAL_DEFAULT);
     if (trashInterval == 0) {
       return;
     } else if (trashInterval < 0) {
       throw new IOException("Cannot start tresh emptier with negative interval."
-          + " Set " + CommonConfigurationKeys.FS_TRASH_INTERVAL_KEY + " to a"
-          + " positive value.");
+          + " Set " + FS_TRASH_INTERVAL_KEY + " to a positive value.");
     }
     this.emptier = new Thread(new Trash(conf).getEmptier(), "Trash Emptier");
     this.emptier.setDaemon(true);