diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoCommand.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoCommand.java
index ca976a1a3..9b7f094d0 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoCommand.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoCommand.java
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ import org.eclipse.jgit.util.FileUtils;
 public class RepoCommand extends GitCommand<RevCommit> {
 	private String path;
 	private String uri;
-	private String groups;
+	private String groupsParam;
 	private String branch;
 	private String targetBranch = Constants.HEAD;
 	private boolean recordRemoteBranch = false;
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ public class RepoCommand extends GitCommand<RevCommit> {
 	 * @return this command
 	 */
 	public RepoCommand setGroups(String groups) {
-		this.groups = groups;
+		this.groupsParam = groups;
 		return this;
 	}
 
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ public class RepoCommand extends GitCommand<RevCommit> {
 				git = new Git(repo);
 
 			ManifestParser parser = new ManifestParser(
-					includedReader, path, branch, uri, groups, repo);
+					includedReader, path, branch, uri, groupsParam, repo);
 			try {
 				parser.read(inputStream);
 				for (RepoProject proj : parser.getFilteredProjects()) {
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoProject.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoProject.java
index d29f6c01e..ff4a3ed1c 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoProject.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoProject.java
@@ -167,14 +167,14 @@ public class RepoProject implements Comparable<RepoProject> {
 	 *            a SHA-1 or branch name or tag name
 	 * @param remote
 	 *            name of the remote definition
-	 * @param groups
+	 * @param groupsParam
 	 *            comma separated group list
 	 */
 	public RepoProject(String name, String path, String revision,
-			String remote, String groups) {
+			String remote, String groupsParam) {
 		this(name, path, revision, remote, new HashSet<String>(), null);
-		if (groups != null && groups.length() > 0)
-			this.setGroups(groups);
+		if (groupsParam != null && groupsParam.length() > 0)
+			this.setGroups(groupsParam);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -191,14 +191,14 @@ public class RepoProject implements Comparable<RepoProject> {
 	/**
 	 * Set the url of the sub repo.
 	 *
-	 * @param groups
+	 * @param groupsParam
 	 *            comma separated group list
 	 * @return this for chaining.
 	 * @since 4.4
 	 */
-	public RepoProject setGroups(String groups) {
+	public RepoProject setGroups(String groupsParam) {
 		this.groups.clear();
-		this.groups.addAll(Arrays.asList(groups.split(","))); //$NON-NLS-1$
+		this.groups.addAll(Arrays.asList(groupsParam.split(","))); //$NON-NLS-1$
 		return this;
 	}