diff --git a/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javac/file/JavacFileManager.java b/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javac/file/JavacFileManager.java
index 87bbfbcf2c808bd25bb443bc12159356372acb8d..e49e9e0234b1d3b0ec921cd8df4d6b51b1bd3029 100644
--- a/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javac/file/JavacFileManager.java
+++ b/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javac/file/JavacFileManager.java
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ public class JavacFileManager extends BaseFileManager implements StandardJavaFil
         EnumSet.of(JavaFileObject.Kind.SOURCE, JavaFileObject.Kind.CLASS);
 
     protected boolean mmappedIO;
-    protected boolean ignoreSymbolFile;
+    protected boolean symbolFileEnabled;
 
     protected enum SortFiles implements Comparator<File> {
         FORWARD {
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ public class JavacFileManager extends BaseFileManager implements StandardJavaFil
             zipFileIndexCache = ZipFileIndexCache.getSharedInstance();
 
         mmappedIO = options.isSet("mmappedIO");
-        ignoreSymbolFile = options.isSet("ignore.symbol.file");
+        symbolFileEnabled = !options.isSet("ignore.symbol.file");
 
         String sf = options.get("sortFiles");
         if (sf != null) {
@@ -150,6 +150,13 @@ public class JavacFileManager extends BaseFileManager implements StandardJavaFil
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Set whether or not to use ct.sym as an alternate to rt.jar.
+     */
+    public void setSymbolFileEnabled(boolean b) {
+        symbolFileEnabled = b;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public boolean isDefaultBootClassPath() {
         return locations.isDefaultBootClassPath();
@@ -466,7 +473,7 @@ public class JavacFileManager extends BaseFileManager implements StandardJavaFil
      */
     private Archive openArchive(File zipFileName, boolean useOptimizedZip) throws IOException {
         File origZipFileName = zipFileName;
-        if (!ignoreSymbolFile && locations.isDefaultBootClassPathRtJar(zipFileName)) {
+        if (symbolFileEnabled && locations.isDefaultBootClassPathRtJar(zipFileName)) {
             File file = zipFileName.getParentFile().getParentFile(); // ${java.home}
             if (new File(file.getName()).equals(new File("jre")))
                 file = file.getParentFile();
diff --git a/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javah/JavahFileManager.java b/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javah/JavahFileManager.java
index 72160c59992e86948468695559e2bfe9f83929c8..e27eff2fdc9f8618971d7a580117b136ec5f7272 100644
--- a/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javah/JavahFileManager.java
+++ b/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javah/JavahFileManager.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2007, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2007, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ import com.sun.tools.javac.util.Context;
 class JavahFileManager extends JavacFileManager {
     private JavahFileManager(Context context, Charset charset) {
         super(context, true, charset);
-        setIgnoreSymbolFile(true);
+        setSymbolFileEnabled(false);
     }
 
     static JavahFileManager create(final DiagnosticListener<? super JavaFileObject> dl, PrintWriter log) {
@@ -56,8 +56,4 @@ class JavahFileManager extends JavacFileManager {
 
         return new JavahFileManager(javac_context, null);
     }
-
-    void setIgnoreSymbolFile(boolean b) {
-        ignoreSymbolFile = b;
-    }
 }
diff --git a/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javah/JavahTask.java b/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javah/JavahTask.java
index 16c3be898aa7b7737708e141fee01be858930278..6b8abf9d6d19073d3b83db6cee43ffcdea3e6f56 100644
--- a/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javah/JavahTask.java
+++ b/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javah/JavahTask.java
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ public class JavahTask implements NativeHeaderTool.NativeHeaderTask {
         g.setForce(force);
 
         if (fileManager instanceof JavahFileManager)
-            ((JavahFileManager) fileManager).setIgnoreSymbolFile(true);
+            ((JavahFileManager) fileManager).setSymbolFileEnabled(false);
 
         JavaCompiler c = ToolProvider.getSystemJavaCompiler();
         List<String> opts = new ArrayList<String>();
diff --git a/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javap/JavapFileManager.java b/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javap/JavapFileManager.java
index 8fa75792dae198f12e54b2461a87e1d3ebe128d0..cf491bf83fa8220ad1e93687536e9df8ca6fa5d0 100644
--- a/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javap/JavapFileManager.java
+++ b/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javap/JavapFileManager.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2007, 2008, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2007, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ import com.sun.tools.javac.util.Context;
 public class JavapFileManager extends JavacFileManager {
     private JavapFileManager(Context context, Charset charset) {
         super(context, true, charset);
-        setIgnoreSymbolFile(true);
+        setSymbolFileEnabled(false);
     }
 
     public static JavapFileManager create(final DiagnosticListener<? super JavaFileObject> dl, PrintWriter log) {
@@ -56,8 +56,4 @@ public class JavapFileManager extends JavacFileManager {
 
         return new JavapFileManager(javac_context, null);
     }
-
-    void setIgnoreSymbolFile(boolean b) {
-        ignoreSymbolFile = b;
-    }
 }