diff --git a/bin/spark-class b/bin/spark-class
index 1b945461fa..2f0441bb3c 100755
--- a/bin/spark-class
+++ b/bin/spark-class
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ FWDIR="$(cd "`dirname "$0"`"/..; pwd)"
 
 # Export this as SPARK_HOME
 export SPARK_HOME="$FWDIR"
+export SPARK_CONF_DIR="${SPARK_CONF_DIR:-"$SPARK_HOME/conf"}"
 
 . "$FWDIR"/bin/load-spark-env.sh
 
@@ -120,8 +121,8 @@ fi
 JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Xms$OUR_JAVA_MEM -Xmx$OUR_JAVA_MEM"
 
 # Load extra JAVA_OPTS from conf/java-opts, if it exists
-if [ -e "$FWDIR/conf/java-opts" ] ; then
-  JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS `cat "$FWDIR"/conf/java-opts`"
+if [ -e "$SPARK_CONF_DIR/java-opts" ] ; then
+  JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS `cat "$SPARK_CONF_DIR"/java-opts`"
 fi
 
 # Attention: when changing the way the JAVA_OPTS are assembled, the change must be reflected in CommandUtils.scala!