diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/Options.java b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/Options.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..23169e3af3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/Options.java
@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with this
+ * work for additional information regarding copyright ownership. The ASF
+ * licenses this file to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
+ * the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.hadoop.util;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FSDataInputStream;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FSDataOutputStream;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
+
+/**
+ * This class allows generic access to variable length type-safe parameter
+ * lists.
+ */
+public class Options {
+
+  public static abstract class StringOption {
+    private final String value;
+    protected StringOption(String value) {
+      this.value = value;
+    }
+    public String getValue() {
+      return value;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static abstract class ClassOption {
+    private final Class<?> value;
+    protected ClassOption(Class<?> value) {
+      this.value = value;
+    }
+    public Class<?> getValue() {
+      return value;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static abstract class BooleanOption {
+    private final boolean value;
+    protected BooleanOption(boolean value) {
+      this.value = value;
+    }
+    public boolean getValue() {
+      return value;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static abstract class IntegerOption {
+    private final int value;
+    protected IntegerOption(int value) {
+      this.value = value;
+    }
+    public int getValue() {
+      return value;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static abstract class LongOption {
+    private final long value;
+    protected LongOption(long value) {
+      this.value = value;
+    }
+    public long getValue() {
+      return value;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static abstract class PathOption {
+    private final Path value;
+    protected PathOption(Path value) {
+      this.value = value;
+    }
+    public Path getValue() {
+      return value;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static abstract class FSDataInputStreamOption {
+    private final FSDataInputStream value;
+    protected FSDataInputStreamOption(FSDataInputStream value) {
+      this.value = value;
+    }
+    public FSDataInputStream getValue() {
+      return value;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static abstract class FSDataOutputStreamOption {
+    private final FSDataOutputStream value;
+    protected FSDataOutputStreamOption(FSDataOutputStream value) {
+      this.value = value;
+    }
+    public FSDataOutputStream getValue() {
+      return value;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static abstract class ProgressableOption {
+    private final Progressable value;
+    protected ProgressableOption(Progressable value) {
+      this.value = value;
+    }
+    public Progressable getValue() {
+      return value;
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Find the first option of the required class.
+   * @param <T> the static class to find
+   * @param <base> the parent class of the array
+   * @param cls the dynamic class to find
+   * @param opts the list of options to look through
+   * @return the first option that matches
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+  public static <base, T extends base> T getOption(Class<T> cls, base [] opts
+                                                   ) throws IOException {
+    for(base o: opts) {
+      if (o.getClass() == cls) {
+        return (T) o;
+      }
+    }
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Prepend some new options to the old options
+   * @param <T> the type of options
+   * @param oldOpts the old options
+   * @param newOpts the new options
+   * @return a new array of options
+   */
+  public static <T> T[] prependOptions(T[] oldOpts, T... newOpts) {
+    // copy the new options to the front of the array
+    T[] result = Arrays.copyOf(newOpts, newOpts.length+oldOpts.length);
+    // now copy the old options
+    System.arraycopy(oldOpts, 0, result, newOpts.length, oldOpts.length);
+    return result;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/util/TestOptions.java b/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/util/TestOptions.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..176400998a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/util/TestOptions.java
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.hadoop.util;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+public class TestOptions {
+
+  @Test
+  public void testAppend() throws Exception {
+    assertArrayEquals("first append",
+                      new String[]{"Dr.", "Who", "hi", "there"},
+                      Options.prependOptions(new String[]{"hi", "there"},
+                                             "Dr.", "Who"));
+    assertArrayEquals("second append",
+                      new String[]{"aa","bb","cc","dd","ee","ff"},
+                      Options.prependOptions(new String[]{"dd", "ee", "ff"},
+                                             "aa", "bb", "cc"));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testFind() throws Exception {
+     Object[] opts = new Object[]{1, "hi", true, "bye", 'x'};
+     assertEquals(1, Options.getOption(Integer.class, opts).intValue());
+     assertEquals("hi", Options.getOption(String.class, opts));
+     assertEquals(true, Options.getOption(Boolean.class, opts).booleanValue());
+  }  
+}