diff --git a/bin/run-example b/bin/run-example
index 146951ac0ee56..63622735ed1a9 100755
--- a/bin/run-example
+++ b/bin/run-example
@@ -21,18 +21,25 @@ SCALA_VERSION=2.10
 
 FWDIR="$(cd `dirname $0`/..; pwd)"
 export SPARK_HOME="$FWDIR"
-EXAMPLES_DIR="$FWDIR"/examples
 
-if [ -f "$FWDIR/RELEASE" ]; then
-  export SPARK_EXAMPLES_JAR=`ls "$FWDIR"/lib/spark-examples-*hadoop*.jar`
-elif [ -e "$EXAMPLES_DIR"/target/scala-$SCALA_VERSION/spark-examples-*hadoop*.jar ]; then
-  export SPARK_EXAMPLES_JAR=`ls "$EXAMPLES_DIR"/target/scala-$SCALA_VERSION/spark-examples-*hadoop*.jar`
-fi
+. $FWDIR/bin/load-spark-env.sh
+. $FWDIR/bin/sh-funcs.sh
+
+# Figure out the JAR file that our examples were packaged into. This includes a bit of a hack
+# to avoid the -sources and -doc packages that are built by publish-local.
+EXAMPLES_DIR="$FWDIR"/examples
 
 if [[ -z $SPARK_EXAMPLES_JAR ]]; then
-  echo "Failed to find Spark examples assembly in $FWDIR/lib or $FWDIR/examples/target" >&2
-  echo "You need to build Spark before running this program" >&2
-  exit 1
+  if [ -f "$FWDIR/RELEASE" ]; then
+    one_glob "$FWDIR/lib/spark-examples-*hadoop*.jar"
+    export SPARK_EXAMPLES_JAR=$_RET
+  fi
+  if [[ -z $SPARK_EXAMPLES_JAR ]]; then
+    jars_pat="$EXAMPLES_DIR/target/scala-$SCALA_VERSION/spark-examples-*hadoop*.jar"
+    errmsg="You need to build Spark before running this program"
+    need_one_glob "$jars_pat" "$errmsg"
+    export SPARK_EXAMPLES_JAR=$_RET
+  fi
 fi
 
 EXAMPLE_MASTER=${MASTER:-"local[*]"}
diff --git a/bin/sh-funcs.sh b/bin/sh-funcs.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..4509551c21f30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/sh-funcs.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+## Glob for a pattern.  Return value is array in $_RET.
+function glob() {
+  local pat="$1"
+  shopt -s nullglob
+  unset _RET
+  _RET=( $pat )
+}
+
+## Glob for a pattern, and die if there's more than one match.  Return
+## value is array in $_RET.
+function one_glob() {
+  glob "$1"
+
+  if (( ${#_RET[@]} > 1 )); then
+    echo "Found multiple files matching $1" >&2
+    echo "Please remove all but one." >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+}
+
+## Glob for a pattern, and die if there's not exactly one match.
+## Return value is string (not array) in $_RET.
+function need_one_glob() {
+  local pat="$1"
+  local errtext="$2"
+  one_glob "$pat"
+  local files=(${_RET[@]})
+  unset _RET
+
+  if (( ${#files[@]} == 0 )); then
+    echo "No files found matching $pat" >&2
+    echo $errtext >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
+  _RET=${files[0]}
+}
diff --git a/bin/spark-class b/bin/spark-class
index 6480ccb58d6aa..e3748010afa56 100755
--- a/bin/spark-class
+++ b/bin/spark-class
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ SCALA_VERSION=2.10
 # Figure out where the Scala framework is installed
 FWDIR="$(cd `dirname $0`/..; pwd)"
 
+. $FWDIR/bin/sh-funcs.sh
+
 # Export this as SPARK_HOME
 export SPARK_HOME="$FWDIR"
 
@@ -93,7 +95,7 @@ else
   if [ `command -v java` ]; then
     RUNNER="java"
   else
-    echo "JAVA_HOME is not set" >&2
+    echo "JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' executable could be found." >&2
     exit 1
   fi
 fi
@@ -110,32 +112,23 @@ export JAVA_OPTS
 
 if [ ! -f "$FWDIR/RELEASE" ]; then
   # Exit if the user hasn't compiled Spark
-  num_jars=$(ls "$FWDIR"/assembly/target/scala-$SCALA_VERSION/ | grep "spark-assembly.*hadoop.*.jar" | wc -l)
-  jars_list=$(ls "$FWDIR"/assembly/target/scala-$SCALA_VERSION/ | grep "spark-assembly.*hadoop.*.jar")
-  if [ "$num_jars" -eq "0" ]; then
-    echo "Failed to find Spark assembly in $FWDIR/assembly/target/scala-$SCALA_VERSION/" >&2
-    echo "You need to build Spark before running this program." >&2
-    exit 1
-  fi
-  if [ "$num_jars" -gt "1" ]; then
-    echo "Found multiple Spark assembly jars in $FWDIR/assembly/target/scala-$SCALA_VERSION:" >&2
-    echo "$jars_list"
-    echo "Please remove all but one jar."
-    exit 1
-  fi
+  jars_pat="$FWDIR/assembly/target/scala-$SCALA_VERSION/spark-assembly*hadoop*.jar"
+  errmsg="You need to build Spark before running this program."
+  need_one_glob "$jars_pat" "$errmsg"
+  jarfile=$_RET  # We don't seem to actually use this value anywhere
 fi
 
+
+# Use the JAR from the Maven build
+# TODO: this also needs to become an assembly!
 TOOLS_DIR="$FWDIR"/tools
-SPARK_TOOLS_JAR=""
-if [ -e "$TOOLS_DIR"/target/scala-$SCALA_VERSION/*assembly*[0-9Tg].jar ]; then
-  # Use the JAR from the SBT build
-  export SPARK_TOOLS_JAR=`ls "$TOOLS_DIR"/target/scala-$SCALA_VERSION/*assembly*[0-9Tg].jar`
-fi
-if [ -e "$TOOLS_DIR"/target/spark-tools*[0-9Tg].jar ]; then
-  # Use the JAR from the Maven build
-  # TODO: this also needs to become an assembly!
-  export SPARK_TOOLS_JAR=`ls "$TOOLS_DIR"/target/spark-tools*[0-9Tg].jar`
+one_glob "$TOOLS_DIR/target/spark-tools*[0-9Tg].jar"
+SPARK_TOOLS_JAR="$_RET"
+if [[ -z $SPARK_TOOLS_JAR ]]; then
+  one_glob "$TOOLS_DIR/target/scala-$SCALA_VERSION/*assembly*[0-9Tg].jar"
+  SPARK_TOOLS_JAR="$_RET"
 fi
+export SPARK_TOOLS_JAR
 
 # Compute classpath using external script
 classpath_output=$($FWDIR/bin/compute-classpath.sh)