diff --git a/docs/hadoop-provided.md b/docs/hadoop-provided.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..0ba5a58051abc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/hadoop-provided.md
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+---
+layout: global
+displayTitle: Using Spark's "Hadoop Free" Build
+title: Using Spark's "Hadoop Free" Build
+---
+
+Spark uses Hadoop client libraries for HDFS and YARN. Starting in version Spark 1.4, the project packages "Hadoop free" builds that lets you more easily connect a single Spark binary to any Hadoop version. To use these builds, you need to modify `SPARK_DIST_CLASSPATH` to include Hadoop's package jars. The most convenient place to do this is by adding an entry in `conf/spark-env.sh`.
+
+This page describes how to connect Spark to Hadoop for different types of distributions.
+
+# Apache Hadoop
+For Apache distributions, you can use Hadoop's 'classpath' command. For instance:
+
+{% highlight bash %}
+### in conf/spark-env.sh ###
+
+# If 'hadoop' binary is on your PATH
+export SPARK_DIST_CLASSPATH=$(hadoop classpath)
+
+# With explicit path to 'hadoop' binary
+export SPARK_DIST_CLASSPATH=$(/path/to/hadoop/bin/hadoop classpath)
+
+# Passing a Hadoop configuration directory
+export SPARK_DIST_CLASSPATH=$(hadoop classpath --config /path/to/configs)
+
+{% endhighlight %}
diff --git a/docs/index.md b/docs/index.md
index 7939657915fc9..d85cf12defefd 100644
--- a/docs/index.md
+++ b/docs/index.md
@@ -12,9 +12,13 @@ It also supports a rich set of higher-level tools including [Spark SQL](sql-prog
 
 # Downloading
 
-Get Spark from the [downloads page](http://spark.apache.org/downloads.html) of the project website. This documentation is for Spark version {{site.SPARK_VERSION}}. The downloads page 
-contains Spark packages for many popular HDFS versions. If you'd like to build Spark from 
-scratch, visit [Building Spark](building-spark.html).
+Get Spark from the [downloads page](http://spark.apache.org/downloads.html) of the project website. This documentation is for Spark version {{site.SPARK_VERSION}}. Spark uses Hadoop's client libraries for HDFS and YARN. Downloads are pre-packaged for a handful of popular Hadoop versions.
+Users can also download a "Hadoop free" binary and run Spark with any Hadoop version
+[by augmenting Spark's classpath](hadoop-provided.html). 
+
+If you'd like to build Spark from 
+source, visit [Building Spark](building-spark.html).
+
 
 Spark runs on both Windows and UNIX-like systems (e.g. Linux, Mac OS). It's easy to run
 locally on one machine --- all you need is to have `java` installed on your system `PATH`,