diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index 733f87dd5f..221e5bd149 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -255,6 +255,10 @@ Release 2.0.5-beta - UNRELEASED
     MAPREDUCE-5275. Bring back a couple of APIs in mapreduce.security.TokenCache
     for binary compatibility with 1.x mapreduce APIs. (Mayank Bansal via vinodkv)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-5231. Bring back a constructor in mapred's
+    DBInputFormat.DBRecordReader for binary compatibility with 1.x mapred APIs.
+    (Zhijie Shen via vinodkv)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     MAPREDUCE-4974. Optimising the LineRecordReader initialize() method 
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/lib/db/DBInputFormat.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/lib/db/DBInputFormat.java
index fab711e62c..9b32530558 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/lib/db/DBInputFormat.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/lib/db/DBInputFormat.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 
 @InterfaceAudience.Public
 @InterfaceStability.Stable
+@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
 public class DBInputFormat<T  extends DBWritable>
     extends org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.lib.db.DBInputFormat<T> 
     implements InputFormat<LongWritable, T>, JobConfigurable {
@@ -48,6 +49,17 @@ public class DBInputFormat<T  extends DBWritable>
   protected class DBRecordReader extends
       org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.lib.db.DBRecordReader<T>
       implements RecordReader<LongWritable, T> {
+    /**
+     * The constructor is kept to be compatible with M/R 1.x
+     *
+     * @param split The InputSplit to read data for
+     * @throws SQLException
+     */
+    protected DBRecordReader(DBInputSplit split, Class<T> inputClass,
+        JobConf job) throws SQLException {
+      super(split, inputClass, job, connection, dbConf, conditions, fieldNames, tableName);
+    }
+
     /**
      * @param split The InputSplit to read data for
      * @throws SQLException 
@@ -152,7 +164,6 @@ public void configure(JobConf job) {
   }
 
   /** {@inheritDoc} */
-  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
   public RecordReader<LongWritable, T> getRecordReader(InputSplit split,
       JobConf job, Reporter reporter) throws IOException {
 
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/db/DBInputFormat.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/db/DBInputFormat.java
index d1b9d76394..c0530c253a 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/db/DBInputFormat.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/db/DBInputFormat.java
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configurable;
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.LongWritable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.InputFormat;
@@ -41,11 +45,6 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.MRJobConfig;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.RecordReader;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.TaskAttemptContext;
-import org.apache.hadoop.util.ReflectionUtils;
-import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
-import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
-import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configurable;
-import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 /**
  * A InputFormat that reads input data from an SQL table.
  * <p>
@@ -62,7 +61,7 @@ public class DBInputFormat<T extends DBWritable>
 
   private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(DBInputFormat.class);
   
-  private String dbProductName = "DEFAULT";
+  protected String dbProductName = "DEFAULT";
 
   /**
    * A Class that does nothing, implementing DBWritable
@@ -144,15 +143,15 @@ public void write(DataOutput output) throws IOException {
     }
   }
 
-  private String conditions;
+  protected String conditions;
 
-  private Connection connection;
+  protected Connection connection;
 
-  private String tableName;
+  protected String tableName;
 
-  private String[] fieldNames;
+  protected String[] fieldNames;
 
-  private DBConfiguration dbConf;
+  protected DBConfiguration dbConf;
 
   /** {@inheritDoc} */
   public void setConf(Configuration conf) {
@@ -230,7 +229,6 @@ conf, getConnection(), getDBConf(), conditions, fieldNames,
   }
 
   /** {@inheritDoc} */
-  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
   public RecordReader<LongWritable, T> createRecordReader(InputSplit split,
       TaskAttemptContext context) throws IOException, InterruptedException {