diff --git a/buildscripts/smoke.py b/buildscripts/smoke.py
index aacdc88f0e4..df6819063d6 100755
--- a/buildscripts/smoke.py
+++ b/buildscripts/smoke.py
@@ -392,14 +392,14 @@ def ternary( b , l="true", r="false" ):
         return l
     return r
 
-
 # Blech.
 def skipTest(path):
     basename = os.path.basename(path)
     parentPath = os.path.dirname(path)
     parentDir = os.path.basename(parentPath)
     if small_oplog: # For tests running in parallel
-        if basename in ["cursor8.js", "indexh.js", "dropdb.js", "connections_opened.js", "opcounters.js", "dbadmin.js"]:
+        if basename in ["cursor8.js", "indexh.js", "dropdb.js", 
+                        "connections_opened.js", "opcounters.js", "dbadmin.js"]:
             return True
     if use_ssl:
         # Skip tests using mongobridge since it does not support SSL
@@ -442,6 +442,14 @@ def skipTest(path):
 
     return False
 
+def setShellWriteModeForTest(path, argv):
+    forceCommandsForSuite = ["aggregation", "replsets", "parallel"]
+    swm = shell_write_mode;
+    if swm == "legacy": # change when the default changes to "commands"
+        if use_write_commands or [s for s in forceCommandsForSuite if s in path]:
+            swm = "commands"
+    argv += ["--writeMode", swm]
+
 def runTest(test, result):
     # result is a map containing test result details, like result["url"]
 
@@ -468,10 +476,9 @@ def runTest(test, result):
             path = argv[1]
     elif ext == ".js":
         argv = [shell_executable, "--port", mongod_port, '--authenticationMechanism', authMechanism]
-        if use_write_commands or "aggregation" in path or "replsets" in path:
-            argv += ["--writeMode", "commands"]
-        else:
-            argv += ["--writeMode", shell_write_mode]
+        
+        setShellWriteModeForTest(path, argv)
+        
         if not usedb:
             argv += ["--nodb"]
         if small_oplog or small_oplog_rs:
@@ -524,8 +531,7 @@ def runTest(test, result):
                      'TestData.authMechanism = ' + ternary( authMechanism,
                                                '"' + str(authMechanism) + '"', 'null') + ";" + \
                      'TestData.useSSL = ' + ternary( use_ssl ) + ";" + \
-                     'TestData.useX509 = ' + ternary( use_x509 ) + ";" + \
-                     'TestData.useWriteCommands = ' + ternary( use_write_commands ) + ";"
+                     'TestData.useX509 = ' + ternary( use_x509 ) + ";"
         # this updates the default data directory for mongod processes started through shell (src/mongo/shell/servers.js)
         evalString += 'MongoRunner.dataDir = "' + os.path.abspath(smoke_db_prefix + '/data/db') + '";'
         evalString += 'MongoRunner.dataPath = MongoRunner.dataDir + "/";'
@@ -890,7 +896,19 @@ def expand_suites(suites,expandUseDB=True):
     module_suites = get_module_suites()
     for suite in suites:
         if suite == 'all':
-            return expand_suites(['test', 'perf', 'js', 'jsPerf', 'jsSlowNightly', 'jsSlowWeekly', 'clone', 'parallel', 'repl', 'auth', 'sharding', 'tool'],expandUseDB=expandUseDB)
+            return expand_suites(['test', 
+                                  'perf', 
+                                  'js', 
+                                  'jsPerf', 
+                                  'jsSlowNightly', 
+                                  'jsSlowWeekly', 
+                                  'clone', 
+                                  'parallel', 
+                                  'repl', 
+                                  'auth', 
+                                  'sharding', 
+                                  'tool'],
+                                 expandUseDB=expandUseDB)
         if suite == 'test':
             if os.sys.platform == "win32":
                 program = 'test.exe'
@@ -951,8 +969,10 @@ def add_exe(e):
     return e
 
 def set_globals(options, tests):
-    global mongod_executable, mongod_port, shell_executable, continue_on_failure, small_oplog, small_oplog_rs
-    global no_journal, set_parameters, set_parameters_mongos, no_preallocj, auth, authMechanism, keyFile, keyFileData, smoke_db_prefix, test_path, start_mongod
+    global mongod_executable, mongod_port, shell_executable, continue_on_failure
+    global small_oplog, small_oplog_rs
+    global no_journal, set_parameters, set_parameters_mongos, no_preallocj
+    global auth, authMechanism, keyFile, keyFileData, smoke_db_prefix, test_path, start_mongod
     global use_ssl, use_x509
     global file_of_commands_mode
     global report_file, shell_write_mode, use_write_commands
@@ -1093,8 +1113,8 @@ def add_to_failfile(tests, options):
 
 def main():
     global mongod_executable, mongod_port, shell_executable, continue_on_failure, small_oplog
-    global no_journal, set_parameters, set_parameters_mongos, no_preallocj, auth, keyFile, smoke_db_prefix, test_path
-    global use_write_commands
+    global no_journal, set_parameters, set_parameters_mongos, no_preallocj, auth
+    global keyFile, smoke_db_prefix, test_path, use_write_commands
 
     parser = OptionParser(usage="usage: smoke.py [OPTIONS] ARGS*")
     parser.add_option('--mode', dest='mode', default='suite',
diff --git a/jstests/core/explain7.js b/jstests/core/explain7.js
index df277aaf211..f2850e56bea 100644
--- a/jstests/core/explain7.js
+++ b/jstests/core/explain7.js
@@ -170,12 +170,24 @@ for( i = 30; i < 150; ++i ) {
     t.save( { a:i, b:i } );
 }
 
-explain = assertUnhintedExplain( { n:150},
+// Non-covered $or query.
+explain = assertUnhintedExplain( { n:150, nscannedObjects:300 },
+                                 t.find( { $or:[ { a:{ $gte:-1, $lte:200 },
+                                                   b:{ $gte:0, $lte:201 } },
+                                                 { a:{ $gte:0, $lte:201 },
+                                                   b:{ $gte:-1, $lte:200 } } ] },
+                                         { _id:1, a:1, b:1 } ).hint( { a:1, b:1 } ) );
+printjson(explain);
+assert.eq( 150, explain.clauses[ 0 ].nscannedObjects );
+assert.eq( 150, explain.clauses[ 1 ].nscannedObjects );
+
+// Covered $or query.
+explain = assertUnhintedExplain( { n:150, nscannedObjects:0 },
                                  t.find( { $or:[ { a:{ $gte:-1, $lte:200 },
                                                    b:{ $gte:0, $lte:201 } },
                                                  { a:{ $gte:0, $lte:201 },
                                                    b:{ $gte:-1, $lte:200 } } ] },
                                          { _id:0, a:1, b:1 } ).hint( { a:1, b:1 } ) );
 printjson(explain);
-// Check nscannedObjects for each clause.
 assert.eq( 0, explain.clauses[ 0 ].nscannedObjects );
+assert.eq( 0, explain.clauses[ 1 ].nscannedObjects );
diff --git a/jstests/core/mr_drop.js b/jstests/core/mr_drop.js
index 4bd141df518..19cea167c7a 100644
--- a/jstests/core/mr_drop.js
+++ b/jstests/core/mr_drop.js
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 // Drop a collection while a map/reduce job is running against it.  SERVER-6757
 
-t = db.jstests_mr_drop;
+// Use a different DB to prevent other tests from breaking this race-y test when run in parallel.
+// Formerly another test could take out a write lock on the DB, preventing map/reduce and drop()
+// from running until the other action completed. When the other action completed, the drop thread
+// was finished sleeping and ready to drop and would drop before map/reduce was able to start.
+t = db.getSiblingDB('MrDrop').jstests_mr_drop;
 t.drop();
 
 Random.setRandomSeed();
@@ -20,7 +24,7 @@ for( i = 0; i < 10000; ++i ) {
 }
 
 // Schedule a collection drop two seconds in the future.
-s = startParallelShell( "sleep( 2000 ); db.jstests_mr_drop.drop();" );
+s = startParallelShell( "sleep( 2000 ); db.getSiblingDB('MrDrop').jstests_mr_drop.drop();" );
 
 // Run the map/reduce job.  Check for command failure internally.  The job succeeds even if the
 // source collection is dropped in progress.
diff --git a/jstests/libs/parallelTester.js b/jstests/libs/parallelTester.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0e588b46414
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jstests/libs/parallelTester.js
@@ -0,0 +1,248 @@
+/**
+ * The ParallelTester class is used to test more than one test concurrently 
+ */
+
+
+if ( typeof _threadInject != "undefined" ){
+    //print( "fork() available!" );
+    
+    Thread = function(){
+        this.init.apply( this, arguments );
+    }
+    _threadInject( Thread.prototype );
+    
+    ScopedThread = function() {
+        this.init.apply( this, arguments );
+    }
+    ScopedThread.prototype = new Thread( function() {} );
+    _scopedThreadInject( ScopedThread.prototype );
+    
+    fork = function() {
+        var t = new Thread( function() {} );
+        Thread.apply( t, arguments );
+        return t;
+    }    
+
+    // Helper class to generate a list of events which may be executed by a ParallelTester
+    EventGenerator = function( me, collectionName, mean, host ) {
+        this.mean = mean;
+        if (host == undefined) host = db.getMongo().host;
+        this.events = new Array( me, collectionName, host );
+    }
+    
+    EventGenerator.prototype._add = function( action ) {
+        this.events.push( [ Random.genExp( this.mean ), action ] );
+    }
+    
+    EventGenerator.prototype.addInsert = function( obj ) {
+        this._add( "t.insert( " + tojson( obj ) + " )" );
+    }
+
+    EventGenerator.prototype.addRemove = function( obj ) {
+        this._add( "t.remove( " + tojson( obj ) + " )" );
+    }
+
+    EventGenerator.prototype.addUpdate = function( objOld, objNew ) {
+        this._add( "t.update( " + tojson( objOld ) + ", " + tojson( objNew ) + " )" );
+    }
+    
+    EventGenerator.prototype.addCheckCount = function( count, query, shouldPrint, checkQuery ) {
+        query = query || {};
+        shouldPrint = shouldPrint || false;
+        checkQuery = checkQuery || false;
+        var action = "assert.eq( " + count + ", t.count( " + tojson( query ) + " ) );"
+        if ( checkQuery ) {
+            action += " assert.eq( " + count + ", t.find( " + tojson( query ) + " ).toArray().length );"
+        }
+        if ( shouldPrint ) {
+            action += " print( me + ' ' + " + count + " );";
+        }
+        this._add( action );
+    }
+    
+    EventGenerator.prototype.getEvents = function() {
+        return this.events;
+    }
+    
+    EventGenerator.dispatch = function() {
+        var args = argumentsToArray( arguments );
+        var me = args.shift();
+        var collectionName = args.shift();
+        var host = args.shift();
+        var m = new Mongo( host );
+        var t = m.getDB( "test" )[ collectionName ];
+        for( var i in args ) {
+            sleep( args[ i ][ 0 ] );
+            eval( args[ i ][ 1 ] );
+        }
+    }
+    
+    // Helper class for running tests in parallel.  It assembles a set of tests
+    // and then calls assert.parallelests to run them.
+    ParallelTester = function() {
+        assert.neq(db.getMongo().writeMode(), "legacy", "wrong shell write mode")
+        this.params = new Array();
+    }
+    
+    ParallelTester.prototype.add = function( fun, args ) {
+        args = args || [];
+        args.unshift( fun );
+        this.params.push( args );
+    }
+    
+    ParallelTester.prototype.run = function( msg, newScopes ) {
+        newScopes = newScopes || false;
+        assert.parallelTests( this.params, msg, newScopes );
+    }
+    
+    // creates lists of tests from jstests dir in a format suitable for use by
+    // ParallelTester.fileTester.  The lists will be in random order.
+    // n: number of lists to split these tests into
+    ParallelTester.createJstestsLists = function( n ) {
+        var params = new Array();
+        for( var i = 0; i < n; ++i ) {
+            params.push( [] );
+        }
+
+        var makeKeys = function( a ) {
+            var ret = {};
+            for( var i in a ) {
+                ret[ a[ i ] ] = 1;
+            }
+            return ret;
+        }
+        
+        // some tests can't run in parallel with most others
+        var skipTests = makeKeys([ "dbadmin.js",
+                                   "repair.js",
+                                   "cursor8.js",
+                                   "recstore.js",
+                                   "extent.js",
+                                   "indexb.js",
+                                   "profile1.js",
+                                   "profile3.js",
+                                   "profile4.js",
+                                   "mr3.js",
+                                   "indexh.js",
+                                   "apitest_db.js",
+                                   "evalb.js",
+                                   "evald.js",
+                                   "evalf.js",
+                                   "killop.js",
+                                   "run_program1.js",
+                                   "notablescan.js",
+                                   "drop2.js",
+                                   "dropdb_race.js",
+                                   "fsync2.js", // May be placed in serialTestsArr once SERVER-4243 is fixed.
+                                   "bench_test1.js",
+                                   "padding.js",
+                                   "queryoptimizera.js",
+                                   "loglong.js",// log might overflow before 
+                                                        // this has a chance to see the message
+                                   "connections_opened.js", // counts connections, globally
+                                   "opcounters.js",
+                                   "currentop.js", // SERVER-8673, plus rwlock yielding issues
+                                   "set_param1.js", // changes global state
+                                   "geo_update_btree2.js", // SERVER-11132 test disables table scans
+                                   "update_setOnInsert.js", // SERVER-9982
+                               ] );
+        
+        var parallelFilesDir = "jstests/core";
+        
+        // some tests can't be run in parallel with each other
+        var serialTestsArr = [ parallelFilesDir + "/fsync.js",
+                               parallelFilesDir + "/auth1.js"
+                              ];
+        var serialTests = makeKeys( serialTestsArr );
+        
+        // prefix the first thread with the serialTests 
+        // (which we will exclude from the rest of the threads below)
+        params[ 0 ] = serialTestsArr;
+        var files = listFiles( parallelFilesDir );
+        files = Array.shuffle( files );
+        
+        var i = 0;
+        files.forEach(
+          function(x) {
+              if ( ( /[\/\\]_/.test(x.name) ) ||
+                   ( ! /\.js$/.test(x.name) ) ||
+                   ( x.name.match(parallelFilesDir + "/(.*\.js)")[1] in skipTests ) || //
+                   ( x.name in serialTests )) { 
+                  print(" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> skipping " + x.name);
+                  return;
+              }
+              // add the test to run in one of the threads.
+              params[ i % n ].push( x.name );
+              ++i;
+          }
+        );
+
+        // randomize ordering of the serialTests
+        params[ 0 ] = Array.shuffle( params[ 0 ] );
+
+        for( var i in params ) {
+            params[ i ].unshift( i );
+        }
+
+        return params;
+    }
+    
+    // runs a set of test files
+    // first argument is an identifier for this tester, remaining arguments are file names
+    ParallelTester.fileTester = function() {
+        var args = argumentsToArray( arguments );
+        var suite = args.shift();
+        args.forEach(
+            function( x ) {
+                print("         S" + suite + " Test : " + x + " ...");
+                var time = Date.timeFunc( function() { load(x); }, 1);
+                print("         S" + suite + " Test : " + x + " " + time + "ms" );
+            }
+        );
+    }
+
+    // params: array of arrays, each element of which consists of a function followed
+    // by zero or more arguments to that function.  Each function and its arguments will
+    // be called in a separate thread.
+    // msg: failure message
+    // newScopes: if true, each thread starts in a fresh scope
+    assert.parallelTests = function( params, msg, newScopes ) {
+        newScopes = newScopes || false;
+        var wrapper = function( fun, argv ) {
+                   eval (
+                         "var z = function() {" +
+                         "var __parallelTests__fun = " + fun.toString() + ";" +
+                         "var __parallelTests__argv = " + tojson( argv ) + ";" +
+                         "var __parallelTests__passed = false;" +
+                         "try {" +
+                            "__parallelTests__fun.apply( 0, __parallelTests__argv );" +
+                            "__parallelTests__passed = true;" +
+                         "} catch ( e ) {" +
+                            "print('');" +
+                            "print( '********** Parallel Test FAILED: ' + tojson(e) );" +
+                            "print('');" +
+                         "}" +
+                         "return __parallelTests__passed;" +
+                         "}"
+                         );
+            return z;
+        }
+        var runners = new Array();
+        for( var i in params ) {
+            var param = params[ i ];
+            var test = param.shift();
+            var t;
+            if ( newScopes )
+                t = new ScopedThread( wrapper( test, param ) );
+            else
+                t = new Thread( wrapper( test, param ) );
+            runners.push( t );
+        }
+        
+        runners.forEach( function( x ) { x.start(); } );
+        var nFailed = 0;
+        // v8 doesn't like it if we exit before all threads are joined (SERVER-529)
+        runners.forEach( function( x ) { if( !x.returnData() ) { ++nFailed; } } );        
+        assert.eq( 0, nFailed, msg );
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/jstests/parallel/allops.js b/jstests/parallel/allops.js
index 7eb0cb2e386..7f94fb5fa23 100644
--- a/jstests/parallel/allops.js
+++ b/jstests/parallel/allops.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // test all operations in parallel
+load('jstests/libs/parallelTester.js')
 
 f = db.jstests_parallel_allops;
 f.drop();
diff --git a/jstests/parallel/basic.js b/jstests/parallel/basic.js
index bcb4d654ea0..c7d44142042 100644
--- a/jstests/parallel/basic.js
+++ b/jstests/parallel/basic.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // perform basic js tests in parallel
+load('jstests/libs/parallelTester.js')
 
 Random.setRandomSeed();
 
diff --git a/jstests/parallel/basicPlus.js b/jstests/parallel/basicPlus.js
index 4d65d255486..c3d432ef600 100644
--- a/jstests/parallel/basicPlus.js
+++ b/jstests/parallel/basicPlus.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // perform basic js tests in parallel & some other tasks as well
+load('jstests/libs/parallelTester.js')
 
 var c = db.jstests_parallel_basicPlus;
 c.drop();
diff --git a/jstests/parallel/checkMultiThread.js b/jstests/parallel/checkMultiThread.js
index d43b1ae5066..9210378ed9c 100644
--- a/jstests/parallel/checkMultiThread.js
+++ b/jstests/parallel/checkMultiThread.js
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+load('jstests/libs/parallelTester.js')
 
 var start = new Date();
 print("start: " + start);
diff --git a/jstests/parallel/del.js b/jstests/parallel/del.js
index fd4a3f13fe1..c2994924097 100644
--- a/jstests/parallel/del.js
+++ b/jstests/parallel/del.js
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+load('jstests/libs/parallelTester.js')
 
 N = 1000;
 HOST = db.getMongo().host
diff --git a/jstests/parallel/insert.js b/jstests/parallel/insert.js
index fc1c750795a..86fa0258d39 100644
--- a/jstests/parallel/insert.js
+++ b/jstests/parallel/insert.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // perform inserts in parallel from several clients
+load('jstests/libs/parallelTester.js')
 
 f = db.jstests_parallel_insert;
 f.drop();
diff --git a/jstests/parallel/manyclients.js b/jstests/parallel/manyclients.js
index daf13b5eefe..ce5172301a4 100644
--- a/jstests/parallel/manyclients.js
+++ b/jstests/parallel/manyclients.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // perform inserts in parallel from a large number of clients
+load('jstests/libs/parallelTester.js')
 
 f = db.jstests_parallel_manyclients;
 f.drop();
diff --git a/jstests/parallel/repl.js b/jstests/parallel/repl.js
index 8cc8dcdbb9f..240002656e8 100644
--- a/jstests/parallel/repl.js
+++ b/jstests/parallel/repl.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // test basic operations in parallel, with replication
+load('jstests/libs/parallelTester.js')
 
 baseName = "parallel_repl"
 
diff --git a/jstests/parallel/shellfork.js b/jstests/parallel/shellfork.js
index 20a1d3df786..d89e6c5d547 100644
--- a/jstests/parallel/shellfork.js
+++ b/jstests/parallel/shellfork.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+load('jstests/libs/parallelTester.js')
+
 a = fork( function( a, b ) { return a / b; }, 10, 2 );
 a.start();
 b = fork( function( a, b, c ) { return a + b + c; }, 18, " is a ", "multiple of 3" );
@@ -13,6 +15,7 @@ assert.eq( "18 is a multiple of 3", b.returnData() );
 assert.eq( "paisley ha ha!", c.returnData() );
 
 z = fork( function( a ) {
+         load('jstests/libs/parallelTester.js');
          var y = fork( function( a ) {
                       return a + 1; }, 5 );
          y.start();
diff --git a/src/mongo/shell/utils.js b/src/mongo/shell/utils.js
index 48e00286bd2..218bbedf75e 100644
--- a/src/mongo/shell/utils.js
+++ b/src/mongo/shell/utils.js
@@ -101,248 +101,6 @@ compareOn = function(field){
     return function(l, r) { return compare(l[field], r[field]); }
 }
 
-if ( typeof _threadInject != "undefined" ){
-    //print( "fork() available!" );
-    
-    Thread = function(){
-        this.init.apply( this, arguments );
-    }
-    _threadInject( Thread.prototype );
-    
-    ScopedThread = function() {
-        this.init.apply( this, arguments );
-    }
-    ScopedThread.prototype = new Thread( function() {} );
-    _scopedThreadInject( ScopedThread.prototype );
-    
-    fork = function() {
-        var t = new Thread( function() {} );
-        Thread.apply( t, arguments );
-        return t;
-    }    
-
-    // Helper class to generate a list of events which may be executed by a ParallelTester
-    EventGenerator = function( me, collectionName, mean, host ) {
-        this.mean = mean;
-        if (host == undefined) host = db.getMongo().host;
-        this.events = new Array( me, collectionName, host );
-    }
-    
-    EventGenerator.prototype._add = function( action ) {
-        this.events.push( [ Random.genExp( this.mean ), action ] );
-    }
-    
-    EventGenerator.prototype.addInsert = function( obj ) {
-        this._add( "t.insert( " + tojson( obj ) + " )" );
-    }
-
-    EventGenerator.prototype.addRemove = function( obj ) {
-        this._add( "t.remove( " + tojson( obj ) + " )" );
-    }
-
-    EventGenerator.prototype.addUpdate = function( objOld, objNew ) {
-        this._add( "t.update( " + tojson( objOld ) + ", " + tojson( objNew ) + " )" );
-    }
-    
-    EventGenerator.prototype.addCheckCount = function( count, query, shouldPrint, checkQuery ) {
-        query = query || {};
-        shouldPrint = shouldPrint || false;
-        checkQuery = checkQuery || false;
-        var action = "assert.eq( " + count + ", t.count( " + tojson( query ) + " ) );"
-        if ( checkQuery ) {
-            action += " assert.eq( " + count + ", t.find( " + tojson( query ) + " ).toArray().length );"
-        }
-        if ( shouldPrint ) {
-            action += " print( me + ' ' + " + count + " );";
-        }
-        this._add( action );
-    }
-    
-    EventGenerator.prototype.getEvents = function() {
-        return this.events;
-    }
-    
-    EventGenerator.dispatch = function() {
-        var args = argumentsToArray( arguments );
-        var me = args.shift();
-        var collectionName = args.shift();
-        var host = args.shift();
-        var m = new Mongo( host );
-        var t = m.getDB( "test" )[ collectionName ];
-        for( var i in args ) {
-            sleep( args[ i ][ 0 ] );
-            eval( args[ i ][ 1 ] );
-        }
-    }
-    
-    // Helper class for running tests in parallel.  It assembles a set of tests
-    // and then calls assert.parallelests to run them.
-    ParallelTester = function() {
-        this.params = new Array();
-    }
-    
-    ParallelTester.prototype.add = function( fun, args ) {
-        args = args || [];
-        args.unshift( fun );
-        this.params.push( args );
-    }
-    
-    ParallelTester.prototype.run = function( msg, newScopes ) {
-        newScopes = newScopes || false;
-        assert.parallelTests( this.params, msg, newScopes );
-    }
-    
-    // creates lists of tests from jstests dir in a format suitable for use by
-    // ParallelTester.fileTester.  The lists will be in random order.
-    // n: number of lists to split these tests into
-    ParallelTester.createJstestsLists = function( n ) {
-        var params = new Array();
-        for( var i = 0; i < n; ++i ) {
-            params.push( [] );
-        }
-
-        var makeKeys = function( a ) {
-            var ret = {};
-            for( var i in a ) {
-                ret[ a[ i ] ] = 1;
-            }
-            return ret;
-        }
-        
-        // some tests can't run in parallel with most others
-        var skipTests = makeKeys( [ "jstests/dbadmin.js",
-                                   "jstests/repair.js",
-                                   "jstests/cursor8.js",
-                                   "jstests/recstore.js",
-                                   "jstests/extent.js",
-                                   "jstests/indexb.js",
-                                   "jstests/profile1.js",
-                                   "jstests/profile3.js",
-                                   "jstests/profile4.js",
-                                   "jstests/mr3.js",
-                                   "jstests/indexh.js",
-                                   "jstests/apitest_db.js",
-                                   "jstests/evalb.js",
-                                   "jstests/evald.js",
-                                   "jstests/evalf.js",
-                                   "jstests/killop.js",
-                                   "jstests/run_program1.js",
-                                   "jstests/notablescan.js",
-                                   "jstests/drop2.js",
-                                   "jstests/dropdb_race.js",
-                                   "jstests/fsync2.js", // May be placed in serialTestsArr once SERVER-4243 is fixed.
-                                   "jstests/bench_test1.js",
-                                   "jstests/padding.js",
-                                   "jstests/queryoptimizera.js",
-                                   "jstests/loglong.js",// log might overflow before 
-                                                        // this has a chance to see the message
-                                   "jstests/connections_opened.js", // counts connections, globally
-                                   "jstests/opcounters.js",
-                                   "jstests/currentop.js", // SERVER-8673, plus rwlock yielding issues
-                                   "jstests/set_param1.js", // changes global state
-                                   "jstests/geo_update_btree2.js", // SERVER-11132 test disables table scans
-                                   "jstests/update_setOnInsert.js", // SERVER-9982
-                                  ] );
-        
-        // some tests can't be run in parallel with each other
-        var serialTestsArr = [ "jstests/fsync.js",
-                               "jstests/auth1.js",
-                               "jstests/connection_status.js",
-                               "jstests/validate_user_documents.js"
-//                              ,"jstests/fsync2.js" // SERVER-4243
-                              ];
-        var serialTests = makeKeys( serialTestsArr );
-        
-        params[ 0 ] = serialTestsArr;
-        
-        var files = listFiles("jstests");
-        files = Array.shuffle( files );
-        
-        var i = 0;
-        files.forEach(
-                      function(x) {
-                      
-                      if ( ( /[\/\\]_/.test(x.name) ) ||
-                          ( ! /\.js$/.test(x.name ) ) ||
-                          ( x.name in skipTests ) ||
-                          ( x.name in serialTests ) ||
-                          ! /\.js$/.test(x.name ) ){ 
-                      print(" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> skipping " + x.name);
-                      return;
-                      }
-                      
-                      params[ i % n ].push( x.name );
-                      ++i;
-                      }
-        );
-        
-        // randomize ordering of the serialTests
-        params[ 0 ] = Array.shuffle( params[ 0 ] );
-        
-        for( var i in params ) {
-            params[ i ].unshift( i );
-        }
-        
-        return params;
-    }
-    
-    // runs a set of test files
-    // first argument is an identifier for this tester, remaining arguments are file names
-    ParallelTester.fileTester = function() {
-        var args = argumentsToArray( arguments );
-        var suite = args.shift();
-        args.forEach(
-                     function( x ) {
-                     print("         S" + suite + " Test : " + x + " ...");
-                     var time = Date.timeFunc( function() { load(x); }, 1);
-                     print("         S" + suite + " Test : " + x + " " + time + "ms" );
-                     }
-                     );        
-    }
-    
-    // params: array of arrays, each element of which consists of a function followed
-    // by zero or more arguments to that function.  Each function and its arguments will
-    // be called in a separate thread.
-    // msg: failure message
-    // newScopes: if true, each thread starts in a fresh scope
-    assert.parallelTests = function( params, msg, newScopes ) {
-        newScopes = newScopes || false;
-        var wrapper = function( fun, argv ) {
-                   eval (
-                         "var z = function() {" +
-                         "var __parallelTests__fun = " + fun.toString() + ";" +
-                         "var __parallelTests__argv = " + tojson( argv ) + ";" +
-                         "var __parallelTests__passed = false;" +
-                         "try {" +
-                            "__parallelTests__fun.apply( 0, __parallelTests__argv );" +
-                            "__parallelTests__passed = true;" +
-                         "} catch ( e ) {" +
-                            "print( '********** Parallel Test FAILED: ' + tojson(e) );" +
-                         "}" +
-                         "return __parallelTests__passed;" +
-                         "}"
-                         );
-            return z;
-        }
-        var runners = new Array();
-        for( var i in params ) {
-            var param = params[ i ];
-            var test = param.shift();
-            var t;
-            if ( newScopes )
-                t = new ScopedThread( wrapper( test, param ) );
-            else
-                t = new Thread( wrapper( test, param ) );
-            runners.push( t );
-        }
-        
-        runners.forEach( function( x ) { x.start(); } );
-        var nFailed = 0;
-        // v8 doesn't like it if we exit before all threads are joined (SERVER-529)
-        runners.forEach( function( x ) { if( !x.returnData() ) { ++nFailed; } } );        
-        assert.eq( 0, nFailed, msg );
-    }
-}
 
 shellPrint = function( x ){
     it = x;