diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index 28627d9286..5e341a1909 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -392,6 +392,9 @@ Release 0.23.1 - Unreleased
     MAPREDUCE-3490. Fixed MapReduce AM to count failed maps also towards Reduce
     ramp up. (Sharad Agarwal and Arun C Murthy via vinodkv)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-1744. DistributedCache creates its own FileSytem instance when 
+    adding a file/archive to the path. (Dick King via tucu)
+
 Release 0.23.0 - 2011-11-01 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/Job.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/Job.java
index e4351536c8..88de3f88c1 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/Job.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/Job.java
@@ -1030,7 +1030,7 @@ public void addCacheFile(URI uri) {
   public void addFileToClassPath(Path file)
     throws IOException {
     ensureState(JobState.DEFINE);
-    DistributedCache.addFileToClassPath(file, conf);
+    DistributedCache.addFileToClassPath(file, conf, file.getFileSystem(conf));
   }
 
   /**
@@ -1045,7 +1045,7 @@ public void addFileToClassPath(Path file)
   public void addArchiveToClassPath(Path archive)
     throws IOException {
     ensureState(JobState.DEFINE);
-    DistributedCache.addArchiveToClassPath(archive, conf);
+    DistributedCache.addArchiveToClassPath(archive, conf, archive.getFileSystem(conf));
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/filecache/DistributedCache.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/filecache/DistributedCache.java
index 8b1d3a61f4..4040358142 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/filecache/DistributedCache.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/filecache/DistributedCache.java
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ public static void addCacheFile(URI uri, Configuration conf) {
   /**
    * Add an file path to the current set of classpath entries It adds the file
    * to cache as well.  Intended to be used by user code.
-   * 
+   *
    * @param file Path of the file to be added
    * @param conf Configuration that contains the classpath setting
    * @deprecated Use {@link Job#addFileToClassPath(Path)} instead
@@ -277,12 +277,25 @@ public static void addCacheFile(URI uri, Configuration conf) {
   @Deprecated
   public static void addFileToClassPath(Path file, Configuration conf)
     throws IOException {
+	  addFileToClassPath(file, conf, file.getFileSystem(conf));
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Add a file path to the current set of classpath entries. It adds the file
+   * to cache as well.  Intended to be used by user code.
+   *
+   * @param file Path of the file to be added
+   * @param conf Configuration that contains the classpath setting
+   * @param fs FileSystem with respect to which {@code archivefile} should
+   *              be interpreted.
+   */
+  public static void addFileToClassPath
+           (Path file, Configuration conf, FileSystem fs)
+        throws IOException {
     String classpath = conf.get(MRJobConfig.CLASSPATH_FILES);
     conf.set(MRJobConfig.CLASSPATH_FILES, classpath == null ? file.toString()
              : classpath + "," + file.toString());
-    FileSystem fs = FileSystem.get(conf);
     URI uri = fs.makeQualified(file).toUri();
-
     addCacheFile(uri, conf);
   }
 
@@ -318,10 +331,23 @@ public static Path[] getFileClassPaths(Configuration conf) {
   @Deprecated
   public static void addArchiveToClassPath(Path archive, Configuration conf)
     throws IOException {
+    addArchiveToClassPath(archive, conf, archive.getFileSystem(conf));
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Add an archive path to the current set of classpath entries. It adds the
+   * archive to cache as well.  Intended to be used by user code.
+   *
+   * @param archive Path of the archive to be added
+   * @param conf Configuration that contains the classpath setting
+   * @param fs FileSystem with respect to which {@code archive} should be interpreted.
+   */
+  public static void addArchiveToClassPath
+         (Path archive, Configuration conf, FileSystem fs)
+      throws IOException {
     String classpath = conf.get(MRJobConfig.CLASSPATH_ARCHIVES);
     conf.set(MRJobConfig.CLASSPATH_ARCHIVES, classpath == null ? archive
              .toString() : classpath + "," + archive.toString());
-    FileSystem fs = FileSystem.get(conf);
     URI uri = fs.makeQualified(archive).toUri();
 
     addCacheArchive(uri, conf);
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/TestMROldApiJobs.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/TestMROldApiJobs.java
index 79a14fc40e..7af592297b 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/TestMROldApiJobs.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/TestMROldApiJobs.java
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ static boolean runJob(JobConf conf, Path inDir, Path outDir, int numMaps,
       file.close();
     }
 
-    DistributedCache.addFileToClassPath(TestMRJobs.APP_JAR, conf);
+    DistributedCache.addFileToClassPath(TestMRJobs.APP_JAR, conf, fs);
     conf.setOutputCommitter(CustomOutputCommitter.class);
     conf.setInputFormat(TextInputFormat.class);
     conf.setOutputKeyClass(LongWritable.class);