diff --git a/core/jni/AndroidRuntime.cpp b/core/jni/AndroidRuntime.cpp
index 9f6ea9fa29c18..a48d7854f20c0 100644
--- a/core/jni/AndroidRuntime.cpp
+++ b/core/jni/AndroidRuntime.cpp
@@ -605,6 +605,7 @@ int AndroidRuntime::startVm(JavaVM** pJavaVM, JNIEnv** pEnv, bool zygote)
 {
     JavaVMInitArgs initArgs;
     char propBuf[PROPERTY_VALUE_MAX];
+    char stackTraceDirBuf[sizeof("-Xstacktracedir:")-1 + PROPERTY_VALUE_MAX];
     char stackTraceFileBuf[sizeof("-Xstacktracefile:")-1 + PROPERTY_VALUE_MAX];
     char jniOptsBuf[sizeof("-Xjniopts:")-1 + PROPERTY_VALUE_MAX];
     char heapstartsizeOptsBuf[sizeof("-Xms")-1 + PROPERTY_VALUE_MAX];
@@ -682,7 +683,12 @@ int AndroidRuntime::startVm(JavaVM** pJavaVM, JNIEnv** pEnv, bool zygote)
         executionMode = kEMJitCompiler;
     }
 
-    parseRuntimeOption("dalvik.vm.stack-trace-file", stackTraceFileBuf, "-Xstacktracefile:");
+    // If dalvik.vm.stack-trace-dir is set, it enables the "new" stack trace
+    // dump scheme and a new file is created for each stack dump. If it isn't set,
+    // the old scheme is enabled.
+    if (!parseRuntimeOption("dalvik.vm.stack-trace-dir", stackTraceDirBuf, "-Xstacktracedir:")) {
+        parseRuntimeOption("dalvik.vm.stack-trace-file", stackTraceFileBuf, "-Xstacktracefile:");
+    }
 
     strcpy(jniOptsBuf, "-Xjniopts:");
     if (parseRuntimeOption("dalvik.vm.jniopts", jniOptsBuf, "-Xjniopts:")) {