diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 288f1b2..88bb9c6 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@
 /lib/cpp/src/thrift/stamp-h2
 /lib/cpp/test/Benchmark
 /lib/cpp/test/AllProtocolsTest
+/lib/cpp/test/AnnotationTest
 /lib/cpp/test/DebugProtoTest
 /lib/cpp/test/DenseProtoTest
 /lib/cpp/test/EnumTest
diff --git a/compiler/cpp/src/thrift/generate/t_cpp_generator.cc b/compiler/cpp/src/thrift/generate/t_cpp_generator.cc
index cbe8da2..1c82e09 100644
--- a/compiler/cpp/src/thrift/generate/t_cpp_generator.cc
+++ b/compiler/cpp/src/thrift/generate/t_cpp_generator.cc
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@
     gen_templates_ = false;
     gen_templates_only_ = false;
     gen_moveable_ = false;
+    gen_no_ostream_operators_ = false;
+
     for( iter = parsed_options.begin(); iter != parsed_options.end(); ++iter) {
       if( iter->first.compare("pure_enums") == 0) {
         gen_pure_enums_ = true;
@@ -80,6 +82,8 @@
         gen_templates_only_ = (iter->second == "only");
       } else if( iter->first.compare("moveable_types") == 0) {
         gen_moveable_ = true;
+      } else if ( iter->first.compare("no_ostream_operators") == 0) {
+        gen_no_ostream_operators_ = true;
       } else {
         throw "unknown option cpp:" + iter->first;
       }
@@ -260,6 +264,22 @@
 
   void set_use_include_prefix(bool use_include_prefix) { use_include_prefix_ = use_include_prefix; }
 
+  /**
+   * The compiler option "no_thrift_ostream_impl" can be used to prevent
+   * the compiler from emitting implementations for operator <<.  In this
+   * case the consuming application must provide any needed to build.
+   *
+   * To disable this on a per structure bases, one can alternatively set
+   * the annotation "cpp.customostream" to prevent thrift from emitting an
+   * operator << (std::ostream&).
+   *
+   * See AnnotationTest for validation of this annotation feature.
+   */
+  bool has_custom_ostream(t_type* ttype) const {
+    return (gen_no_ostream_operators_) ||
+           (ttype->annotations_.find("cpp.customostream") != ttype->annotations_.end());
+  }
+
 private:
   /**
    * Returns the include prefix to use for a file generated by program, or the
@@ -289,6 +309,11 @@
   bool gen_moveable_;
 
   /**
+   * True if we should generate ostream definitions
+   */
+  bool gen_no_ostream_operators_;
+
+  /**
    * True iff we should use a path prefix in our #include statements for other
    * thrift-generated header files.
    */
@@ -751,7 +776,11 @@
   if (gen_moveable_) {
     generate_move_assignment_operator(f_types_impl_, tstruct);
   }
-  generate_struct_print_method(f_types_impl_, tstruct);
+
+  if (!has_custom_ostream(tstruct)) {
+    generate_struct_print_method(f_types_impl_, tstruct);
+  }
+
   if (is_exception) {
     generate_exception_what_method(f_types_impl_, tstruct);
   }
@@ -1094,7 +1123,7 @@
   }
   out << endl;
 
-  if (is_user_struct) {
+  if (is_user_struct && !has_custom_ostream(tstruct)) {
     out << indent() << "virtual ";
     generate_struct_print_method_decl(out, NULL);
     out << ";" << endl;
@@ -1467,14 +1496,22 @@
 }
 
 void t_cpp_generator::generate_struct_ostream_operator(std::ofstream& out, t_struct* tstruct) {
-  out << "inline std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& out, const "
-      << tstruct->get_name()
-      << "& obj)" << endl;
-  scope_up(out);
-  out << indent() << "obj.printTo(out);" << endl
-      << indent() << "return out;" << endl;
-  scope_down(out);
-  out << endl;
+  if (has_custom_ostream(tstruct)) {
+    // the consuming implementation will define this behavior
+    out << "std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& out, const "
+        << tstruct->get_name()
+        << "& obj);" << endl;
+  } else {
+    // thrift defines this behavior
+    out << "inline std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& out, const "
+        << tstruct->get_name()
+        << "& obj)" << endl;
+    scope_up(out);
+    out << indent() << "obj.printTo(out);" << endl
+        << indent() << "return out;" << endl;
+    scope_down(out);
+    out << endl;
+  }
 }
 
 void t_cpp_generator::generate_struct_print_method_decl(std::ofstream& out, t_struct* tstruct) {
@@ -4371,4 +4408,6 @@
     "    templates:       Generate templatized reader/writer methods.\n"
     "    pure_enums:      Generate pure enums instead of wrapper classes.\n"
     "    include_prefix:  Use full include paths in generated files.\n"
-    "    moveable_types:  Generate move constructors and assignment operators.\n")
+    "    moveable_types:  Generate move constructors and assignment operators.\n"
+    "    no_ostream_operators:\n"
+    "                     Omit generation of ostream definitions.\n");
diff --git a/lib/cpp/test/AnnotationTest.cpp b/lib/cpp/test/AnnotationTest.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2e18840
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/cpp/test/AnnotationTest.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+#define BOOST_TEST_MODULE AnnotationTest
+#include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>
+#include "gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_types.h"
+#include <ostream>
+#include <sstream>
+
+// Normally thrift generates ostream operators, however
+// with the annotation "cpp.customostream" one can tell the
+// compiler they are going to provide their own, and not
+// emit operator << or printTo().
+
+std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const ostr_custom& osc)
+{
+  os << "{ bar = " << osc.bar << "; }";
+  return os;
+}
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE(BOOST_TEST_MODULE)
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(test_cpp_compiler_generated_ostream_operator)
+{
+  ostr_default def;
+  def.__set_bar(10);
+
+  std::stringstream ssd;
+  ssd << def;
+  BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(ssd.str(), "ostr_default(bar=10)");
+}
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(test_cpp_customostream_uses_consuming_application_definition)
+{
+  ostr_custom cus;
+  cus.__set_bar(10);
+
+  std::stringstream csd;
+  csd << cus;
+  BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(csd.str(), "{ bar = 10; }");
+}
+
+/**
+ * Disabled; see THRIFT-1567 - not sure what it is supposed to do
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(test_cpp_type) {
+  // Check that the "cpp.type" annotation changes "struct foo" to "DenseFoo"
+  // This won't compile if the annotation is mishandled
+  DenseFoo foo;
+  foo.__set_bar(5);
+}
+ */
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()
diff --git a/lib/cpp/test/CMakeLists.txt b/lib/cpp/test/CMakeLists.txt
index 74b0a09..b7a7798 100644
--- a/lib/cpp/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/lib/cpp/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
 
 # Create the thrift C++ test library
 set(testgencpp_SOURCES
+    gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_types.cpp
+    gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_types.h
     gen-cpp/DebugProtoTest_types.cpp
     gen-cpp/DebugProtoTest_types.h
     gen-cpp/EnumTest_types.cpp
@@ -146,6 +148,13 @@
 add_test(NAME ZlibTest COMMAND ZlibTest)
 endif(WITH_ZLIB)
 
+add_executable(AnnotationTest AnnotationTest.cpp)
+target_link_libraries(AnnotationTest
+    testgencpp
+    ${Boost_LIBRARIES}
+)
+LINK_AGAINST_THRIFT_LIBRARY(AnnotationTest thrift)
+add_test(NAME AnnotationTest COMMAND AnnotationTest)
 
 add_executable(EnumTest EnumTest.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(EnumTest
@@ -332,8 +341,16 @@
 # Common thrift code generation rules
 #
 
+add_custom_command(OUTPUT gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_constants.cpp
+                          gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_constants.h
+                          gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_types.cpp
+                          gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_types.h
+                          gen-cpp/foo_service.cpp
+                          gen-cpp/foo_service.h
+    COMMAND ${THRIFT_COMPILER} --gen cpp ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/AnnotationTest.thrift
+)
 
-add_custom_command(OUTPUT gen-cpp/DebugProtoTest_types.cpp gen-cpp/DebugProtoTest_types.h gen-cpp/EmptyService.cpp  gen-cpp/EmptyService.h
+add_custom_command(OUTPUT gen-cpp/DebugProtoTest_types.cpp gen-cpp/DebugProtoTest_types.h gen-cpp/EmptyService.cpp gen-cpp/EmptyService.h
     COMMAND ${THRIFT_COMPILER} --gen cpp ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/DebugProtoTest.thrift
 )
 
diff --git a/lib/cpp/test/Makefile.am b/lib/cpp/test/Makefile.am
index 6f46117..d387297 100755
--- a/lib/cpp/test/Makefile.am
+++ b/lib/cpp/test/Makefile.am
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@
 #
 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = subdir-objects serial-tests
 
-BUILT_SOURCES = gen-cpp/DebugProtoTest_types.h \
+BUILT_SOURCES = gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_types.h \
+                gen-cpp/DebugProtoTest_types.h \
                 gen-cpp/EnumTest_types.h \
                 gen-cpp/OptionalRequiredTest_types.h \
                 gen-cpp/Recursive_types.h \
@@ -31,6 +32,8 @@
 
 noinst_LTLIBRARIES = libtestgencpp.la libprocessortest.la
 nodist_libtestgencpp_la_SOURCES = \
+	gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_types.cpp \
+	gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_types.h \
 	gen-cpp/DebugProtoTest_types.cpp \
 	gen-cpp/DebugProtoTest_types.h \
 	gen-cpp/EnumTest_types.cpp \
@@ -89,7 +92,8 @@
 	TFileTransportTest \
 	link_test \
 	OpenSSLManualInitTest \
-	EnumTest
+	EnumTest \
+        AnnotationTest
 
 if AMX_HAVE_LIBEVENT
 noinst_PROGRAMS += \
@@ -178,12 +182,19 @@
   -lz
 
 EnumTest_SOURCES = \
-  EnumTest.cpp
+	EnumTest.cpp
 
 EnumTest_LDADD = \
   libtestgencpp.la \
   $(BOOST_TEST_LDADD)
 
+AnnotationTest_SOURCES = \
+	AnnotationTest.cpp
+
+AnnotationTest_LDADD = \
+  libtestgencpp.la \
+  $(BOOST_TEST_LDADD)
+
 TFileTransportTest_SOURCES = \
 	TFileTransportTest.cpp
 
@@ -334,6 +345,9 @@
 #
 THRIFT = $(top_builddir)/compiler/cpp/thrift
 
+gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_constants.cpp gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_constants.h gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_types.cpp gen-cpp/AnnotationTest_types.h: $(top_srcdir)/test/AnnotationTest.thrift
+	$(THRIFT) --gen cpp $<
+
 gen-cpp/DebugProtoTest_types.cpp gen-cpp/DebugProtoTest_types.h gen-cpp/EmptyService.cpp gen-cpp/EmptyService.h: $(top_srcdir)/test/DebugProtoTest.thrift
 	$(THRIFT) --gen cpp $<
 
diff --git a/test/AnnotationTest.thrift b/test/AnnotationTest.thrift
index 191995a..7e24e1c 100644
--- a/test/AnnotationTest.thrift
+++ b/test/AnnotationTest.thrift
@@ -57,6 +57,15 @@
   "Winter"
 } ( foo = "bar" )
 
+struct ostr_default {
+  1: i32 bar;
+}
+
+struct ostr_custom {
+  1: i32 bar;
+} (cpp.customostream)
+
+
 service foo_service {
   void foo() ( foo = "bar" )
 } (a.b="c")