--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/hotspot/test/serviceability/dcmd/gc/FinalizationRunner.java	Thu Oct 15 17:35:42 2015 +0200
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2015, 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
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+ * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
+ * accompanied this code).
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
+ * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+ * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+ *
+ * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
+ * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
+ * questions.
+ */
+
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
+
+import jdk.test.lib.dcmd.CommandExecutor;
+import jdk.test.lib.dcmd.JMXExecutor;
+
+public class FinalizationRunner {
+    public static final String FAILED = "Failed";
+    public static final String PASSED = "Passed";
+
+    static volatile boolean wasFinalized = false;
+    private static final CountDownLatch finRunLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
+    private static final CountDownLatch finBlockLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
+
+    static class MyObject {
+        @Override
+        protected void finalize() {
+            if (Thread.currentThread().getName().equals("Finalizer")) {
+                try {
+                    System.out.println("inside the regular finalizer thread; blocking");
+                    // 'regular' finalizer thread is ready to be effectively blocked -
+                    //    we can continue with the GC.run_finalization test
+                    finRunLatch.countDown();
+                    // prevent the 'regular' finalizer from finalizing this instance
+                    // until the GC.run_finalization has had its chance to do so
+                    finBlockLatch.await();
+                } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+                }
+            } else {
+                if (Thread.currentThread().getName().equals("Secondary finalizer")) {
+                    System.out.println("finalizing the test instance");
+                    // finalizing on behalf of GC.run_finalization -
+                    //   unblock the 'regular' finalizer and the test main method
+                    wasFinalized = true;
+                } else {
+                    fail("Unexpected finalizer thread name: " +
+                            Thread.currentThread().getName());
+                }
+                finBlockLatch.countDown();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    // this instance will be used to provoke the regular finalization
+    // so the finalizer thread can be blocked for the duration of
+    // GC.run_finalization test
+    public static MyObject o1;
+
+    // this instance will be used to perform the GC.run_finalization test
+    public static MyObject o2;
+
+    private static void run(CommandExecutor executor) {
+        o2 = new MyObject();
+        o2 = null;
+        System.out.println("running GC.run_finalization");
+        System.gc();
+        executor.execute("GC.run_finalization");
+
+        System.out.println("Waiting for finalization");
+
+        try {
+            finBlockLatch.await();
+            if (wasFinalized) {
+                System.out.println(PASSED + ": Object was finalized");
+            } else {
+                fail("Object was not finalized");
+            }
+        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+            fail("Interrupted while waiting for finalization", e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static void main(String ... args) {
+        System.out.println("\n=== FinalizationRunner");
+        try {
+            blockFinalizerThread();
+
+            Runtime.getRuntime().addShutdownHook(new Thread(()->{
+                run(new JMXExecutor());
+            }));
+        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+            fail("Interrupted while trying to block the finalizer thread", e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static void blockFinalizerThread() throws InterruptedException {
+        System.out.println("trying to block the finalizer thread");
+        o1 = new MyObject();
+        o1 = null;
+        System.gc();
+        finRunLatch.await();
+    }
+
+    private static void fail(String msg, Exception e) {
+        fail(msg);
+        e.printStackTrace(System.err);
+    }
+
+    private static void fail(String msg) {
+        System.err.println(FAILED + ": " + msg);
+    }
+}

--- a/hotspot/test/serviceability/dcmd/gc/RunFinalizationTest.java	Thu Oct 15 13:00:17 2015 +0200
+++ b/hotspot/test/serviceability/dcmd/gc/RunFinalizationTest.java	Thu Oct 15 17:35:42 2015 +0200
@@ -21,13 +21,11 @@
  * questions.
  */
 
-import java.util.concurrent.Phaser;
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
 
-import jdk.test.lib.dcmd.CommandExecutor;
-import jdk.test.lib.dcmd.JMXExecutor;
-import jdk.test.lib.Utils;
+import jdk.test.lib.OutputAnalyzer;
+import jdk.test.lib.ProcessTools;
 
 /*
  * @test
@@ -39,71 +37,21 @@
  *          jdk.jvmstat/sun.jvmstat.monitor
  * @build jdk.test.lib.*
  * @build jdk.test.lib.dcmd.*
- * @run main/othervm RunFinalizationTest
+ * @build RunFinalizationTest FinalizationRunner
+ * @run main RunFinalizationTest
  */
 public class RunFinalizationTest {
-    private static final long TIMEOUT = Utils.adjustTimeout(15000); // 15s
-    private static final Phaser ph = new Phaser(3);
-    static volatile boolean wasFinalized = false;
-    static volatile boolean wasInitialized = false;
-
-    static class MyObject {
-        public MyObject() {
-            /* Make sure object allocation/deallocation is not optimized out */
-            wasInitialized = true;
-        }
-
-        protected void finalize() {
-            if (!Thread.currentThread().getName().equals("Finalizer")) {
-                wasFinalized = true;
-                ph.arrive();
-            } else {
-                ph.arriveAndAwaitAdvance();
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    public static MyObject o;
-
-    private static void run(CommandExecutor executor) {
-        o = new MyObject();
-        o = null;
-        System.gc();
-        executor.execute("GC.run_finalization");
-
-        System.out.println("Waiting for signal from finalizer");
+    private final static String TEST_APP_NAME = "FinalizationRunner";
 
-        long targetTime = System.currentTimeMillis() + TIMEOUT;
-        while (System.currentTimeMillis() < targetTime) {
-            try {
-                ph.awaitAdvanceInterruptibly(ph.arrive(), 200, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
-                System.out.println("Received signal");
-                break;
-            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
-                fail("Test error: Interrupted while waiting for signal from finalizer", e);
-            } catch (TimeoutException e) {
-                System.out.println("Haven't received signal in 200ms. Retrying ...");
-            }
-        }
+    public static void main(String ... args) throws Exception {
+        List<String> javaArgs = new ArrayList<>();
+        javaArgs.add("-cp");
+        javaArgs.add(System.getProperty("test.class.path"));
+        javaArgs.add(TEST_APP_NAME);
+        ProcessBuilder testAppPb = ProcessTools.createJavaProcessBuilder(javaArgs.toArray(new String[javaArgs.size()]));
 
-        if (!wasFinalized) {
-            fail("Test failure: Object was not finalized");
-        }
-    }
-
-    public static void main(String ... args) {
-        MyObject o = new MyObject();
-        o = null;
-        Runtime.getRuntime().addShutdownHook(new Thread(()->{
-            run(new JMXExecutor());
-        }));
-    }
-
-    private static void fail(String msg, Exception e) {
-        throw new Error(msg, e);
-    }
-
-    private static void fail(String msg) {
-        throw new Error(msg);
+        OutputAnalyzer out = ProcessTools.executeProcess(testAppPb);
+        out.stderrShouldNotMatch("^" + FinalizationRunner.FAILED + ".*")
+           .stdoutShouldMatch("^" + FinalizationRunner.PASSED + ".*");
     }
 }