diff --git a/lib/ansible/callbacks.py b/lib/ansible/callbacks.py
index 54c84a2420a..2fe34336261 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/callbacks.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/callbacks.py
@@ -535,6 +535,9 @@ class PlaybookRunnerCallbacks(DefaultRunnerCallbacks):
                 display(msg, color='green', runner=self.runner)
             else:
                 display(msg, color='yellow', runner=self.runner)
+        if constants.COMMAND_WARNINGS and 'warnings' in host_result2 and host_result2['warnings']:
+            for warning in host_result2['warnings']:
+                display("warn: %s" % warning, color='purple', runner=self.runner)
         super(PlaybookRunnerCallbacks, self).on_ok(host, host_result)
 
     def on_skipped(self, host, item=None):
diff --git a/lib/ansible/constants.py b/lib/ansible/constants.py
index e69f25feef9..269f116134a 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/constants.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/constants.py
@@ -170,6 +170,7 @@ HOST_KEY_CHECKING              = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'host_key_checking',  '
 SYSTEM_WARNINGS                = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'system_warnings', 'ANSIBLE_SYSTEM_WARNINGS', True, boolean=True)
 DEPRECATION_WARNINGS           = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'deprecation_warnings', 'ANSIBLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS', True, boolean=True)
 DEFAULT_CALLABLE_WHITELIST     = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'callable_whitelist', 'ANSIBLE_CALLABLE_WHITELIST', [], islist=True)
+COMMAND_WARNINGS               = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'command_warnings', 'ANSIBLE_COMMAND_WARNINGS', True, boolean=True)
 
 # CONNECTION RELATED
 ANSIBLE_SSH_ARGS               = get_config(p, 'ssh_connection', 'ssh_args', 'ANSIBLE_SSH_ARGS', None)
diff --git a/library/commands/command b/library/commands/command
index dde2d645170..66abb759eeb 100644
--- a/library/commands/command
+++ b/library/commands/command
@@ -67,6 +67,12 @@ options:
     required: false
     default: null
     version_added: "0.9"
+  warn:
+    description:
+      - turn off warnings about running a command that is provided by an Ansible module.
+    required: false
+    default: True
+    version_added: "1.5"
 notes:
     -  If you want to run a command through the shell (say you are using C(<),
        C(>), C(|), etc), you actually want the M(shell) module instead. The
@@ -108,7 +114,27 @@ EXAMPLES = '''
 #   that was matched in the first 'quote' is found, or the end of
 #   the line is reached
 
-PARAM_REGEX = re.compile(r'(^|\s)(creates|removes|chdir|executable|NO_LOG)=(?P<quote>[\'"])?(.*?)(?(quote)(?<!\\)(?P=quote))((?<!\\)(?=\s)|$)')
+PARAM_REGEX = re.compile(r'(^|\s)(creates|removes|chdir|executable|NO_LOG|warn)=(?P<quote>[\'"])?(.*?)(?(quote)(?<!\\)(?P=quote))((?<!\\)(?=\s)|$)')
+
+
+def check_command(commandline):
+    arguments = { 'chown': 'owner', 'chmod': 'mode', 'chgrp': 'group',
+                  'ln': 'state=link', 'mkdir': 'state=directory',
+                  'rmdir': 'state=absent', 'rm': 'state=absent', 'touch': 'state=touch' }
+    commands  = { 'git': 'git', 'hg': 'hg', 'curl': 'get_url', 'wget': 'get_url',
+                  'svn': 'subversion', 'service': 'service',
+                  'mount': 'mount', 'rpm': 'yum', 'yum': 'yum', 'apt-get': 'apt-get',
+                  'tar': 'unarchive', 'unzip': 'unarchive', 'sed': 'template or lineinfile',
+                  'echo': 'template or lineinfile', 'cp': 'synchronize or copy',
+                  'rsync': 'synchronize' }
+    warnings = list()
+    command = os.path.basename(commandline.split()[0])
+    if command in arguments:
+        warnings.append("Consider using file module with %s rather than running %s" % (arguments[command], command))
+    if command in commands:
+        warnings.append("Consider using %s module rather than running %s" % (commands[command], command))
+    return warnings
+
 
 def main():
 
@@ -122,6 +148,7 @@ def main():
     args  = module.params['args']
     creates  = module.params['creates']
     removes  = module.params['removes']
+    warn = module.params.get('warn', True)
 
     if args.strip() == '':
         module.fail_json(rc=256, msg="no command given")
@@ -157,6 +184,10 @@ def main():
                 rc=0
             )
 
+    warnings = list()
+    if warn:
+        warnings = check_command(args)
+
     if not shell:
         args = shlex.split(args)
     startd = datetime.datetime.now()
@@ -172,14 +203,15 @@ def main():
         err = ''
 
     module.exit_json(
-        cmd     = args,
-        stdout  = out.rstrip("\r\n"),
-        stderr  = err.rstrip("\r\n"),
-        rc      = rc,
-        start   = str(startd),
-        end     = str(endd),
-        delta   = str(delta),
-        changed = True
+        cmd      = args,
+        stdout   = out.rstrip("\r\n"),
+        stderr   = err.rstrip("\r\n"),
+        rc       = rc,
+        start    = str(startd),
+        end      = str(endd),
+        delta    = str(delta),
+        changed  = True,
+        warnings = warnings
     )
 
 # import module snippets
@@ -206,6 +238,7 @@ class CommandModule(AnsibleModule):
         params['removes']    = None
         params['shell']      = False
         params['executable'] = None
+        params['warn'] = True
         if "#USE_SHELL" in args:
             args = args.replace("#USE_SHELL", "")
             params['shell'] = True
@@ -236,6 +269,7 @@ class CommandModule(AnsibleModule):
         # Remove any of the above k=v params from the args string
         args = PARAM_REGEX.sub('', args)
         params['args'] = args.strip()
+
         return (params, params['args'])
 
 main()
diff --git a/library/commands/shell b/library/commands/shell
index 03e8f27c390..7911963e2cb 100644
--- a/library/commands/shell
+++ b/library/commands/shell
@@ -41,6 +41,12 @@ options:
     required: false
     default: null
     version_added: "0.9"
+  warn:
+    description:
+      - turn off warnings about running a command that is provided by an Ansible module.
+    required: false
+    default: True
+    version_added: "1.5"
 notes:
    -  If you want to execute a command securely and predictably, it may be
       better to use the M(command) module instead. Best practices when writing
diff --git a/test/integration/roles/test_command_shell/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/roles/test_command_shell/tasks/main.yml
index 0ec50193625..ead6cbe7e7a 100644
--- a/test/integration/roles/test_command_shell/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/roles/test_command_shell/tasks/main.yml
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@
       - "shell_result0.rc == 0"
       - "shell_result0.stderr == ''"
       - "shell_result0.stdout == 'win'"
+      - "not shell_result0.warnings"
 
 # executable
 
@@ -143,6 +144,7 @@
       - "shell_result2.rc == 0"
       - "shell_result2.stderr == ''"
       - "shell_result2.stdout == 'win'"
+      - "not shell_result2.warnings"
 
 # creates
 
@@ -157,17 +159,23 @@
 
 # removes
 
-- name: execute the test.sh script with chdir
+- name: remove afile.txt using rm
   shell: rm {{output_dir_test | expanduser}}/afile.txt removes={{output_dir_test | expanduser}}/afile.txt
+  register: shell_result4
+
+- name: assert that using rm under shell causes a warning
+  assert:
+    that:
+      - "shell_result4.warnings"
 
 - name: verify that afile.txt is absent
   file: path={{output_dir_test}}/afile.txt state=absent
-  register: shell_result4
+  register: shell_result5
 
 - name: assert that the file was removed by the shell
   assert:
     that:
-      - "shell_result4.changed == False"
+      - "shell_result5.changed == False"
 
 - name: execute a shell command using a literal multiline block
   args:
@@ -181,13 +189,12 @@
     | tr -s ' ' \
     | cut -f1 -d ' '
     echo "this is a second line"
-  register: shell_result5
+  register: shell_result6
 
-- debug: var=shell_result5
+- debug: var=shell_result6
 
 - name: assert the multiline shell command ran as expected
   assert:
     that:
-      - "shell_result5.changed"
-      - "shell_result5.stdout == '32f3cc201b69ed8afa3902b80f554ca8\nthis is a second line'"
-
+      - "shell_result6.changed"
+      - "shell_result6.stdout == '32f3cc201b69ed8afa3902b80f554ca8\nthis is a second line'"