diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 3540884..2f262b1 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@
  
 BUG FIXES
 
+PIG-5274: TestEvalPipelineLocal#testSetLocationCalledInFE is failing in spark mode after PIG-5157 (nkollar via szita)
+
 PIG-4767: Partition filter not pushed down when filter clause references variable from another load path (knoguchi)
 
 PIG-5270: Typo in Pig Logging (FromAlaska49 via daijy)
diff --git a/src/org/apache/pig/backend/hadoop/executionengine/spark/SparkLauncher.java b/src/org/apache/pig/backend/hadoop/executionengine/spark/SparkLauncher.java
index 03dea96..7bf059b 100644
--- a/src/org/apache/pig/backend/hadoop/executionengine/spark/SparkLauncher.java
+++ b/src/org/apache/pig/backend/hadoop/executionengine/spark/SparkLauncher.java
@@ -175,7 +175,6 @@
         SparkPigStats sparkStats = (SparkPigStats) pigContext
                 .getExecutionEngine().instantiatePigStats();
         sparkStats.initialize(pigContext, sparkplan, jobConf);
-        UDFContext.getUDFContext().addJobConf(jobConf);
         PigStats.start(sparkStats);
 
         startSparkIfNeeded(jobConf, pigContext);
diff --git a/src/org/apache/pig/backend/hadoop/executionengine/spark/SparkShims.java b/src/org/apache/pig/backend/hadoop/executionengine/spark/SparkShims.java
index b81bb1a..cff68ea 100644
--- a/src/org/apache/pig/backend/hadoop/executionengine/spark/SparkShims.java
+++ b/src/org/apache/pig/backend/hadoop/executionengine/spark/SparkShims.java
@@ -60,7 +60,12 @@
 
     public static SparkShims getInstance() {
         if (sparkShims == null) {
-            String sparkVersion = UDFContext.getUDFContext().getJobConf().get(SPARK_VERSION, "");
+            String sparkVersion;
+            if (UDFContext.getUDFContext().isFrontend()) {
+                sparkVersion = SparkContext.getOrCreate().version();
+            } else {
+                sparkVersion = UDFContext.getUDFContext().getJobConf().get(SPARK_VERSION, "");
+            }
             LOG.info("Initializing SparkShims for Spark version: " + sparkVersion);
             String sparkMajorVersion = getSparkMajorVersion(sparkVersion);
             try {
diff --git a/src/org/apache/pig/backend/hadoop/executionengine/spark/converter/SkewedJoinConverter.java b/src/org/apache/pig/backend/hadoop/executionengine/spark/converter/SkewedJoinConverter.java
index 64f2fc2..75a630c 100644
--- a/src/org/apache/pig/backend/hadoop/executionengine/spark/converter/SkewedJoinConverter.java
+++ b/src/org/apache/pig/backend/hadoop/executionengine/spark/converter/SkewedJoinConverter.java
@@ -232,8 +232,8 @@
                             }
 
                             return result;
-                        } catch (Exception e) {
-                            log.warn(e);
+                        } catch (ExecException e) {
+                            log.error(e);
                             return null;
                         }
                     }