Index: core/src/main/java/org/apache/hcatalog/common/HCatContext.java =================================================================== --- core/src/main/java/org/apache/hcatalog/common/HCatContext.java (revision 1427234) +++ core/src/main/java/org/apache/hcatalog/common/HCatContext.java (working copy) @@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ if (conf != newConf) { for (Map.Entry entry : conf) { - if (newConf.get(entry.getKey()) == null) { + if ((entry.getKey().matches("hcat.*")) && (newConf.get(entry.getKey()) == null)) { newConf.set(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue()); } }