--- old/src/share/vm/gc_implementation/shared/vmGCOperations.cpp	2014-02-07 17:50:16.554301208 +0100
+++ new/src/share/vm/gc_implementation/shared/vmGCOperations.cpp	2014-02-07 17:50:16.454301909 +0100
@@ -104,6 +104,14 @@
   assert(((_gc_cause != GCCause::_no_gc) &&
           (_gc_cause != GCCause::_no_cause_specified)), "Illegal GCCause");
 
+  // If a GC is initiated during startup and the the GC locker is locked,
+  // the VM initialization will fail because we are not yet ready to handle
+  // a GC.
+  if (GC_locker::fail_on_gc()) {
+    vm_exit_during_initialization(
+      err_msg("Too small young generation (" SIZE_FORMAT "K) to initialize VM.", NewSize / K));
+  }
+
   acquire_pending_list_lock();
   // If the GC count has changed someone beat us to the collection
   // Get the Heap_lock after the pending_list_lock.
--- old/src/share/vm/memory/gcLocker.hpp	2014-02-07 17:50:16.902298765 +0100
+++ new/src/share/vm/memory/gcLocker.hpp	2014-02-07 17:50:16.806299435 +0100
@@ -91,7 +91,8 @@
     assert(SafepointSynchronize::is_at_safepoint(), "only read at safepoint");
     return is_active_internal();
   }
-  static bool needs_gc()       { return _needs_gc;                        }
+  static bool needs_gc()   { return _needs_gc; }
+  static bool fail_on_gc() { return _lock_count > 0; }
 
   // Shorthand
   static bool is_active_and_needs_gc() {
--- old/src/share/vm/memory/metaspaceShared.cpp	2014-02-07 17:50:17.234296433 +0100
+++ new/src/share/vm/memory/metaspaceShared.cpp	2014-02-07 17:50:17.134297135 +0100
@@ -645,9 +645,6 @@
   TraceTime timer("Dump Shared Spaces", TraceStartupTime);
   ResourceMark rm;
 
-  // Lock out GC - is it necessary? I don't think we care.
-  No_GC_Verifier no_gc;
-
   // Preload classes to be shared.
   // Should use some os:: method rather than fopen() here. aB.
   // Construct the path to the class list (in jre/lib)
--- old/src/share/vm/memory/universe.cpp	2014-02-07 17:50:17.582293996 +0100
+++ new/src/share/vm/memory/universe.cpp	2014-02-07 17:50:17.474294750 +0100
@@ -632,7 +632,6 @@
   guarantee(sizeof(oop) % sizeof(HeapWord) == 0,
             "oop size is not not a multiple of HeapWord size");
   TraceTime timer("Genesis", TraceStartupTime);
-  GC_locker::lock();  // do not allow gc during bootstrapping
   JavaClasses::compute_hard_coded_offsets();
 
   jint status = Universe::initialize_heap();
@@ -1159,8 +1158,6 @@
 
   MemoryService::add_metaspace_memory_pools();
 
-  GC_locker::unlock();  // allow gc after bootstrapping
-
   MemoryService::set_universe_heap(Universe::_collectedHeap);
   return true;
 }
--- old/src/share/vm/runtime/thread.cpp	2014-02-07 17:50:17.930291548 +0100
+++ new/src/share/vm/runtime/thread.cpp	2014-02-07 17:50:17.826292281 +0100
@@ -3472,6 +3472,9 @@
   // Second phase of bootstrapping, VM is about entering multi-thread mode
   MemTracker::bootstrap_multi_thread();
 
+  // Do not allow GC during initialization
+  GC_locker::lock();
+
   // Initialize global modules
   jint status = init_globals();
   if (status != JNI_OK) {
@@ -3541,6 +3544,9 @@
 
   initialize_java_lang_classes(main_thread, CHECK_JNI_ERR);
 
+  // After class initialization the GC is ready to run
+  GC_locker::unlock();
+
   // We need this for ClassDataSharing - the initial vm.info property is set
   // with the default value of CDS "sharing" which may be reset through
   // command line options.