diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/Utils.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/Utils.scala
index d3dc1d09cb7b4..af8a24553a461 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/Utils.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/Utils.scala
@@ -403,7 +403,8 @@ private[spark] object Utils extends Logging {
       useCache: Boolean) {
     val fileName = url.split("/").last
     val targetFile = new File(targetDir, fileName)
-    if (useCache) {
+    val fetchCacheEnabled = conf.getBoolean("spark.files.useFetchCache", defaultValue = true)
+    if (useCache && fetchCacheEnabled) {
       val cachedFileName = s"${url.hashCode}${timestamp}_cache"
       val lockFileName = s"${url.hashCode}${timestamp}_lock"
       val localDir = new File(getLocalDir(conf))
diff --git a/docs/configuration.md b/docs/configuration.md
index 63fc99e7d3e29..7fe11475212b3 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/configuration.md
@@ -745,6 +745,18 @@ Apart from these, the following properties are also available, and may be useful
     the driver, in seconds.
   </td>
 </tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><code>spark.files.useFetchCache</code></td>
+  <td>true</td>
+  <td>
+    If set to true (default), file fetching will use a local cache that is shared by executors
+    that belong to the same application, which can improve task launching performance when
+    running many executors on the same host. If set to false, these caching optimizations will
+    be disabled and all executors will fetch their own copies of files. This optimization may be
+    disabled in order to use Spark local directories that reside on NFS filesystems (see
+    <a href="https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/SPARK-6313">SPARK-6313</a> for more details).
+  </td>
+</tr>
 <tr>
   <td><code>spark.files.overwrite</code></td>
   <td>false</td>