diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 1dba7ed29240a..266e04897e11c 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ allprojects {
 }
 
 ext {
-    gradleVersion = "2.8"
+    gradleVersion = "2.9"
     buildVersionFileName = "kafka-version.properties"
 
     userMaxForks = project.hasProperty('maxParallelForks') ? maxParallelForks.toInteger() : null
diff --git a/gradlew b/gradlew
index 91a7e269e19df..9d82f78915133 100755
--- a/gradlew
+++ b/gradlew
@@ -42,11 +42,6 @@ case "`uname`" in
     ;;
 esac
 
-# For Cygwin, ensure paths are in UNIX format before anything is touched.
-if $cygwin ; then
-    [ -n "$JAVA_HOME" ] && JAVA_HOME=`cygpath --unix "$JAVA_HOME"`
-fi
-
 # Attempt to set APP_HOME
 # Resolve links: $0 may be a link
 PRG="$0"
@@ -61,9 +56,9 @@ while [ -h "$PRG" ] ; do
     fi
 done
 SAVED="`pwd`"
-cd "`dirname \"$PRG\"`/" >&-
+cd "`dirname \"$PRG\"`/" >/dev/null
 APP_HOME="`pwd -P`"
-cd "$SAVED" >&-
+cd "$SAVED" >/dev/null
 
 CLASSPATH=$APP_HOME/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
 
@@ -114,6 +109,7 @@ fi
 if $cygwin ; then
     APP_HOME=`cygpath --path --mixed "$APP_HOME"`
     CLASSPATH=`cygpath --path --mixed "$CLASSPATH"`
+    JAVACMD=`cygpath --unix "$JAVACMD"`
 
     # We build the pattern for arguments to be converted via cygpath
     ROOTDIRSRAW=`find -L / -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d 2>/dev/null`