--- a/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp	Thu May 17 09:50:59 2012 -0700
+++ b/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp	Fri May 18 10:27:13 2012 -0700
@@ -3092,6 +3092,14 @@
     PrintGC = true;
   }
 
+  if (!JDK_Version::is_gte_jdk18x_version()) {
+    // To avoid changing the log format for 7 updates this flag is only
+    // true by default in JDK8 and above.
+    if (FLAG_IS_DEFAULT(PrintGCCause)) {
+      FLAG_SET_DEFAULT(PrintGCCause, false);
+    }
+  }
+
   // Set object alignment values.
   set_object_alignment();