diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/AbstractProtobufLogWriter.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/AbstractProtobufLogWriter.java
index 608032b8e4ac..8437fef3bc23 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/AbstractProtobufLogWriter.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/AbstractProtobufLogWriter.java
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ public void init(FileSystem fs, Path path, Configuration conf, boolean overwrita
       }
     } catch (Exception e) {
       LOG.warn("Init output failed, path={}", path, e);
-      closeOutput();
+      closeOutputIfNecessary();
       throw e;
     }
   }
@@ -269,9 +269,10 @@ protected abstract void initOutput(FileSystem fs, Path path, boolean overwritabl
     throws IOException, StreamLacksCapabilityException;
 
   /**
-   * simply close the output, do not need to write trailer like the Writer.close
+   * It is straight forward to close the output, do not need to write trailer like the Writer.close
    */
-  protected abstract void closeOutput();
+  protected void closeOutputIfNecessary() {
+  }
 
   /**
    * return the file length after written.
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/AsyncProtobufLogWriter.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/AsyncProtobufLogWriter.java
index 42d9a1f15f53..44affaf734a0 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/AsyncProtobufLogWriter.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/AsyncProtobufLogWriter.java
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ protected void initOutput(FileSystem fs, Path path, boolean overwritable, int bu
   }
 
   @Override
-  protected void closeOutput() {
+  protected void closeOutputIfNecessary() {
     if (this.output != null) {
       try {
         this.output.close();
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/ProtobufLogWriter.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/ProtobufLogWriter.java
index b15c9dd958c3..a94449fe01e7 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/ProtobufLogWriter.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/ProtobufLogWriter.java
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ protected void initOutput(FileSystem fs, Path path, boolean overwritable, int bu
   }
 
   @Override
-  protected void closeOutput() {
+  protected void closeOutputIfNecessary() {
     if (this.output != null) {
       try {
         this.output.close();