diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 0e5147011e..fe21d840be 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -109,6 +109,9 @@ Release 0.23.1 - UNRELEASED
   IMPROVEMENTS
     HDFS-2560. Refactor BPOfferService to be a static inner class (todd)
 
+    HDFS-2544. Hadoop scripts unconditionally source
+    "$bin"/../libexec/hadoop-config.sh. (Bruno Mahé via tomwhite)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HDFS-2130. Switch default checksum to CRC32C. (todd)
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/distribute-exclude.sh b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/distribute-exclude.sh
index cc538f72d3..66fc14a246 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/distribute-exclude.sh
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/distribute-exclude.sh
@@ -36,7 +36,9 @@
 bin=`dirname "$0"`
 bin=`cd "$bin"; pwd`
 
-. "$bin/../libexec/hdfs-config.sh"
+DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR="$bin"/../libexec
+HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR=${HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR:-$DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR}
+. $HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR/hdfs-config.sh
 
 if [ "$1" = '' ] ; then
   "Error: please specify local exclude file as a first argument"
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs
index d9b8f61abc..314fac8fd8 100755
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@ bin=`which $0`
 bin=`dirname ${bin}`
 bin=`cd "$bin"; pwd`
 
-. "$bin"/../libexec/hdfs-config.sh
+DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR="$bin"/../libexec
+HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR=${HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR:-$DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR}
+. $HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR/hdfs-config.sh
 
 function print_usage(){
   echo "Usage: hdfs [--config confdir] COMMAND"
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs-config.sh b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs-config.sh
index 48aa20c94d..09eec6e5de 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs-config.sh
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs-config.sh
@@ -24,8 +24,10 @@ bin=`cd "$bin"; pwd`
 
 export HADOOP_PREFIX="${HADOOP_PREFIX:-$bin/..}"
 
-if [ -e "$bin/../libexec/hadoop-config.sh" ]; then
-  . $bin/../libexec/hadoop-config.sh
+DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR="$bin"/../libexec
+HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR=${HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR:-$DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR}
+if [ -e "${HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR}/hadoop-config.sh" ]; then
+  . ${HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR}/hadoop-config.sh
 elif [ -e "${HADOOP_COMMON_HOME}/libexec/hadoop-config.sh" ]; then
   . "$HADOOP_COMMON_HOME"/libexec/hadoop-config.sh
 elif [ -e "${HADOOP_HOME}/libexec/hadoop-config.sh" ]; then
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/refresh-namenodes.sh b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/refresh-namenodes.sh
index 2092764a1d..d3f67598b6 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/refresh-namenodes.sh
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/refresh-namenodes.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@
 bin=`dirname "$0"`
 bin=`cd "$bin"; pwd`
 
-. "$bin/../libexec/hdfs-config.sh"
+DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR="$bin"/../libexec
+HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR=${HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR:-$DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR}
+. $HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR/hdfs-config.sh
 
 namenodes=$("$HADOOP_PREFIX/bin/hdfs" getconf -nnRpcAddresses)
 if [ "$?" != '0' ] ; then errorFlag='1' ; 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/start-balancer.sh b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/start-balancer.sh
index b6b3aa7f8b..24c622764e 100755
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/start-balancer.sh
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/start-balancer.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@
 bin=`dirname "${BASH_SOURCE-$0}"`
 bin=`cd "$bin"; pwd`
 
-. "$bin"/../libexec/hdfs-config.sh
+DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR="$bin"/../libexec
+HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR=${HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR:-$DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR}
+. $HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR/hdfs-config.sh
 
 # Start balancer daemon.
 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/start-dfs.sh b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/start-dfs.sh
index d6ed5f99e6..d6d03f7f8f 100755
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/start-dfs.sh
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/start-dfs.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@ usage="Usage: start-dfs.sh [-upgrade|-rollback]"
 bin=`dirname "${BASH_SOURCE-$0}"`
 bin=`cd "$bin"; pwd`
 
-. "$bin"/../libexec/hdfs-config.sh
+DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR="$bin"/../libexec
+HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR=${HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR:-$DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR}
+. $HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR/hdfs-config.sh
 
 # get arguments
 if [ $# -ge 1 ]; then
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/start-secure-dns.sh b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/start-secure-dns.sh
index bcb9b8f82d..7ddf687922 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/start-secure-dns.sh
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/start-secure-dns.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ usage="Usage (run as root in order to start secure datanodes): start-secure-dns.
 bin=`dirname "${BASH_SOURCE-$0}"`
 bin=`cd "$bin"; pwd`
 
-. "$bin"/../libexec/hdfs-config.sh
+DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR="$bin"/../libexec
+HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR=${HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR:-$DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR}
+. $HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR/hdfs-config.sh
 
 if [ "$EUID" -eq 0 ] && [ -n "$HADOOP_SECURE_DN_USER" ]; then
   "$HADOOP_PREFIX"/sbin/hadoop-daemons.sh --config $HADOOP_CONF_DIR --script "$bin"/hdfs start datanode $dataStartOpt
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/stop-balancer.sh b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/stop-balancer.sh
index 7edd0bd311..5026c8c7cc 100755
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/stop-balancer.sh
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/stop-balancer.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@
 bin=`dirname "${BASH_SOURCE-$0}"`
 bin=`cd "$bin"; pwd`
 
-. "$bin"/../libexec/hdfs-config.sh
+DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR="$bin"/../libexec
+HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR=${HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR:-$DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR}
+. $HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR/hdfs-config.sh
 
 # Stop balancer daemon.
 # Run this on the machine where the balancer is running
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/stop-dfs.sh b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/stop-dfs.sh
index e64a5ea879..11788e24b7 100755
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/stop-dfs.sh
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/stop-dfs.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@
 bin=`dirname "${BASH_SOURCE-$0}"`
 bin=`cd "$bin"; pwd`
 
-. "$bin"/../libexec/hdfs-config.sh
+DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR="$bin"/../libexec
+HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR=${HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR:-$DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR}
+. $HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR/hdfs-config.sh
 
 #---------------------------------------------------------
 # namenodes
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/stop-secure-dns.sh b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/stop-secure-dns.sh
index a0ae1728d4..fdd47c3891 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/stop-secure-dns.sh
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/stop-secure-dns.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ usage="Usage (run as root in order to stop secure datanodes): stop-secure-dns.sh
 bin=`dirname "${BASH_SOURCE-$0}"`
 bin=`cd "$bin"; pwd`
 
-. "$bin"/../libexec/hdfs-config.sh
+DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR="$bin"/../libexec
+HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR=${HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR:-$DEFAULT_LIBEXEC_DIR}
+. $HADOOP_LIBEXEC_DIR/hdfs-config.sh
 
 if [ "$EUID" -eq 0 ] && [ -n "$HADOOP_SECURE_DN_USER" ]; then
   "$HADOOP_PREFIX"/sbin/hadoop-daemons.sh --config $HADOOP_CONF_DIR --script "$bin"/hdfs stop datanode