Index: core/src/main/java/org/apache/hcatalog/common/HCatUtil.java =================================================================== --- core/src/main/java/org/apache/hcatalog/common/HCatUtil.java (revision 1435001) +++ core/src/main/java/org/apache/hcatalog/common/HCatUtil.java (working copy) @@ -81,7 +81,8 @@ private final static int DEFAULT_HIVE_CACHE_EXPIRY_TIME_SECONDS = 2 * 60; public static boolean checkJobContextIfRunningFromBackend(JobContext j) { - if (j.getConfiguration().get("mapred.task.id", "").equals("")) { + if (j.getConfiguration().get("mapred.task.id", "").equals("") && + !("true".equals(j.getConfiguration().get("pig.illustrating")))) { return false; } return true;