diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmit.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmit.scala
index 0b39ee8fe3ba0322d3d170218d8e1685ff1ba4f5..31185c8e77def912c8b8fdcb2ac74f4a0bd94566 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmit.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmit.scala
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import java.security.PrivilegedExceptionAction
 
 import scala.collection.mutable.{ArrayBuffer, HashMap, Map}
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.UserGroupInformation
 import org.apache.ivy.Ivy
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@ import org.apache.ivy.core.settings.IvySettings
 import org.apache.ivy.plugins.matcher.GlobPatternMatcher
 import org.apache.ivy.plugins.repository.file.FileRepository
 import org.apache.ivy.plugins.resolver.{FileSystemResolver, ChainResolver, IBiblioResolver}
+
 import org.apache.spark.api.r.RUtils
 import org.apache.spark.SPARK_VERSION
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.rest._
@@ -275,21 +277,18 @@ object SparkSubmit {
 
     // Resolve maven dependencies if there are any and add classpath to jars. Add them to py-files
     // too for packages that include Python code
-    val resolvedMavenCoordinates =
-      SparkSubmitUtils.resolveMavenCoordinates(
-        args.packages, Option(args.repositories), Option(args.ivyRepoPath))
-    if (!resolvedMavenCoordinates.trim.isEmpty) {
-      if (args.jars == null || args.jars.trim.isEmpty) {
-        args.jars = resolvedMavenCoordinates
+    val exclusions: Seq[String] =
+      if (!StringUtils.isBlank(args.packagesExclusions)) {
+        args.packagesExclusions.split(",")
       } else {
-        args.jars += s",$resolvedMavenCoordinates"
+        Nil
       }
+    val resolvedMavenCoordinates = SparkSubmitUtils.resolveMavenCoordinates(args.packages,
+      Some(args.repositories), Some(args.ivyRepoPath), exclusions = exclusions)
+    if (!StringUtils.isBlank(resolvedMavenCoordinates)) {
+      args.jars = mergeFileLists(args.jars, resolvedMavenCoordinates)
       if (args.isPython) {
-        if (args.pyFiles == null || args.pyFiles.trim.isEmpty) {
-          args.pyFiles = resolvedMavenCoordinates
-        } else {
-          args.pyFiles += s",$resolvedMavenCoordinates"
-        }
+        args.pyFiles = mergeFileLists(args.pyFiles, resolvedMavenCoordinates)
       }
     }
 
@@ -736,7 +735,7 @@ object SparkSubmit {
    * no files, into a single comma-separated string.
    */
   private def mergeFileLists(lists: String*): String = {
-    val merged = lists.filter(_ != null)
+    val merged = lists.filterNot(StringUtils.isBlank)
                       .flatMap(_.split(","))
                       .mkString(",")
     if (merged == "") null else merged
@@ -938,7 +937,7 @@ private[spark] object SparkSubmitUtils {
         // are supplied to spark-submit
         val alternateIvyCache = ivyPath.getOrElse("")
         val packagesDirectory: File =
-          if (alternateIvyCache.trim.isEmpty) {
+          if (alternateIvyCache == null || alternateIvyCache.trim.isEmpty) {
             new File(ivySettings.getDefaultIvyUserDir, "jars")
           } else {
             ivySettings.setDefaultIvyUserDir(new File(alternateIvyCache))
@@ -1010,7 +1009,7 @@ private[spark] object SparkSubmitUtils {
     }
   }
 
-  private def createExclusion(
+  private[deploy] def createExclusion(
       coords: String,
       ivySettings: IvySettings,
       ivyConfName: String): ExcludeRule = {
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala
index b3710073e330ca30cda516f34ae7c1f4595da588..44852ce4e84ac76103ebfe3f2e225bad0e129f59 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ private[deploy] class SparkSubmitArguments(args: Seq[String], env: Map[String, S
   var packages: String = null
   var repositories: String = null
   var ivyRepoPath: String = null
+  var packagesExclusions: String = null
   var verbose: Boolean = false
   var isPython: Boolean = false
   var pyFiles: String = null
@@ -172,6 +173,9 @@ private[deploy] class SparkSubmitArguments(args: Seq[String], env: Map[String, S
     name = Option(name).orElse(sparkProperties.get("spark.app.name")).orNull
     jars = Option(jars).orElse(sparkProperties.get("spark.jars")).orNull
     ivyRepoPath = sparkProperties.get("spark.jars.ivy").orNull
+    packages = Option(packages).orElse(sparkProperties.get("spark.jars.packages")).orNull
+    packagesExclusions = Option(packagesExclusions)
+      .orElse(sparkProperties.get("spark.jars.excludes")).orNull
     deployMode = Option(deployMode).orElse(env.get("DEPLOY_MODE")).orNull
     numExecutors = Option(numExecutors)
       .getOrElse(sparkProperties.get("spark.executor.instances").orNull)
@@ -299,6 +303,7 @@ private[deploy] class SparkSubmitArguments(args: Seq[String], env: Map[String, S
     |  childArgs               [${childArgs.mkString(" ")}]
     |  jars                    $jars
     |  packages                $packages
+    |  packagesExclusions      $packagesExclusions
     |  repositories            $repositories
     |  verbose                 $verbose
     |
@@ -391,6 +396,9 @@ private[deploy] class SparkSubmitArguments(args: Seq[String], env: Map[String, S
       case PACKAGES =>
         packages = value
 
+      case PACKAGES_EXCLUDE =>
+        packagesExclusions = value
+
       case REPOSITORIES =>
         repositories = value
 
@@ -482,6 +490,9 @@ private[deploy] class SparkSubmitArguments(args: Seq[String], env: Map[String, S
         |                              maven repo, then maven central and any additional remote
         |                              repositories given by --repositories. The format for the
         |                              coordinates should be groupId:artifactId:version.
+        |  --exclude-packages          Comma-separated list of groupId:artifactId, to exclude while
+        |                              resolving the dependencies provided in --packages to avoid
+        |                              dependency conflicts.
         |  --repositories              Comma-separated list of additional remote repositories to
         |                              search for the maven coordinates given with --packages.
         |  --py-files PY_FILES         Comma-separated list of .zip, .egg, or .py files to place
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitUtilsSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitUtilsSuite.scala
index 01ece1a10f46db3b0162d46f4b69897c1034a0c9..63c346c1b8908a3f68907bc9034d59be8372b024 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitUtilsSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitUtilsSuite.scala
@@ -95,6 +95,25 @@ class SparkSubmitUtilsSuite extends SparkFunSuite with BeforeAndAfterAll {
     assert(md.getDependencies.length === 2)
   }
 
+  test("excludes works correctly") {
+    val md = SparkSubmitUtils.getModuleDescriptor
+    val excludes = Seq("a:b", "c:d")
+    excludes.foreach { e =>
+      md.addExcludeRule(SparkSubmitUtils.createExclusion(e + ":*", new IvySettings, "default"))
+    }
+    val rules = md.getAllExcludeRules
+    assert(rules.length === 2)
+    val rule1 = rules(0).getId.getModuleId
+    assert(rule1.getOrganisation === "a")
+    assert(rule1.getName === "b")
+    val rule2 = rules(1).getId.getModuleId
+    assert(rule2.getOrganisation === "c")
+    assert(rule2.getName === "d")
+    intercept[IllegalArgumentException] {
+      SparkSubmitUtils.createExclusion("e:f:g:h", new IvySettings, "default")
+    }
+  }
+
   test("ivy path works correctly") {
     val md = SparkSubmitUtils.getModuleDescriptor
     val artifacts = for (i <- 0 until 3) yield new MDArtifact(md, s"jar-$i", "jar", "jar")
@@ -168,4 +187,15 @@ class SparkSubmitUtilsSuite extends SparkFunSuite with BeforeAndAfterAll {
       assert(files.indexOf(main.artifactId) >= 0, "Did not return artifact")
     }
   }
+
+  test("exclude dependencies end to end") {
+    val main = new MavenCoordinate("my.great.lib", "mylib", "0.1")
+    val dep = "my.great.dep:mydep:0.5"
+    IvyTestUtils.withRepository(main, Some(dep), None) { repo =>
+      val files = SparkSubmitUtils.resolveMavenCoordinates(main.toString,
+        Some(repo), None, Seq("my.great.dep:mydep"), isTest = true)
+      assert(files.indexOf(main.artifactId) >= 0, "Did not return artifact")
+      assert(files.indexOf("my.great.dep") < 0, "Returned excluded artifact")
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/SparkSubmitOptionParser.java b/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/SparkSubmitOptionParser.java
index b88bba883ac650a96932eece92bac9390a3ec809..5779eb3fc0f788444aad1da216509af6990704bf 100644
--- a/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/SparkSubmitOptionParser.java
+++ b/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/SparkSubmitOptionParser.java
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ class SparkSubmitOptionParser {
   protected final String MASTER = "--master";
   protected final String NAME = "--name";
   protected final String PACKAGES = "--packages";
+  protected final String PACKAGES_EXCLUDE = "--exclude-packages";
   protected final String PROPERTIES_FILE = "--properties-file";
   protected final String PROXY_USER = "--proxy-user";
   protected final String PY_FILES = "--py-files";
@@ -105,6 +106,7 @@ class SparkSubmitOptionParser {
     { NAME },
     { NUM_EXECUTORS },
     { PACKAGES },
+    { PACKAGES_EXCLUDE },
     { PRINCIPAL },
     { PROPERTIES_FILE },
     { PROXY_USER },