diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6211a5889a3f5..01ef851f34b6f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -69,29 +69,28 @@ can be run using:
 Spark uses the Hadoop core library to talk to HDFS and other Hadoop-supported
 storage systems. Because the protocols have changed in different versions of
 Hadoop, you must build Spark against the same version that your cluster runs.
-You can change the version by setting the `SPARK_HADOOP_VERSION` environment
-when building Spark.
+You can change the version by setting `-Dhadoop.version` when building Spark.
 
 For Apache Hadoop versions 1.x, Cloudera CDH MRv1, and other Hadoop
 versions without YARN, use:
 
     # Apache Hadoop 1.2.1
-    $ SPARK_HADOOP_VERSION=1.2.1 sbt/sbt assembly
+    $ sbt/sbt -Dhadoop.version=1.2.1 assembly
 
     # Cloudera CDH 4.2.0 with MapReduce v1
-    $ SPARK_HADOOP_VERSION=2.0.0-mr1-cdh4.2.0 sbt/sbt assembly
+    $ sbt/sbt -Dhadoop.version=2.0.0-mr1-cdh4.2.0 assembly
 
 For Apache Hadoop 2.2.X, 2.1.X, 2.0.X, 0.23.x, Cloudera CDH MRv2, and other Hadoop versions
 with YARN, also set `SPARK_YARN=true`:
 
     # Apache Hadoop 2.0.5-alpha
-    $ SPARK_HADOOP_VERSION=2.0.5-alpha SPARK_YARN=true sbt/sbt assembly
+    $ sbt/sbt -Dhadoop.version=2.0.5-alpha -Pyarn assembly
 
     # Cloudera CDH 4.2.0 with MapReduce v2
-    $ SPARK_HADOOP_VERSION=2.0.0-cdh4.2.0 SPARK_YARN=true sbt/sbt assembly
+    $ sbt/sbt -Dhadoop.version=2.0.0-cdh4.2.0 -Pyarn assembly
 
     # Apache Hadoop 2.2.X and newer
-    $ SPARK_HADOOP_VERSION=2.2.0 SPARK_YARN=true sbt/sbt assembly
+    $ sbt/sbt -Dhadoop.version=2.2.0 -Pyarn assembly
 
 When developing a Spark application, specify the Hadoop version by adding the
 "hadoop-client" artifact to your project's dependencies. For example, if you're