diff --git a/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/plugin.xml b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/plugin.xml
index 41fe367bf82..9fdce062bf4 100644
--- a/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/plugin.xml
+++ b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/plugin.xml
@@ -158,5 +158,9 @@
             id="org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.DISCOVERED_SCANNER_INFO">
       </pathEntryContainerInitializer>
    </extension>
+   <extension
+         point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.preferences">
+      <initializer class="org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core.PreferenceInitializer"/>
+   </extension>
 
 </plugin>
diff --git a/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/core/MakeCorePlugin.java b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/core/MakeCorePlugin.java
index 01b937c81b6..62f36c40a1f 100644
--- a/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/core/MakeCorePlugin.java
+++ b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/core/MakeCorePlugin.java
@@ -16,13 +16,11 @@ import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
-import org.eclipse.cdt.core.CCorePlugin;
 import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.makefile.IMakefile;
 import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.scannerconfig.IDiscoveredPathManager;
 import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.scannerconfig.IExternalScannerInfoProvider;
 import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.scannerconfig.IScannerConfigBuilderInfo;
 import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.scannerconfig.IScannerInfoConsoleParser;
-import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.scannerconfig.ScannerConfigBuilder;
 import org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core.BuildInfoFactory;
 import org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core.MakeTargetManager;
 import org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core.makefile.gnu.GNUMakefile;
@@ -38,7 +36,6 @@ import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IExtension;
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IExtensionPoint;
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IPath;
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IStatus;
-import org.eclipse.core.runtime.Path;
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.Platform;
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.Plugin;
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.Preferences;
@@ -56,6 +53,7 @@ public class MakeCorePlugin extends Plugin {
 	public static final String EXTERNAL_SI_PROVIDER_SIMPLE_ID = "ExternalScannerInfoProvider"; //$NON-NLS-1$
 	public static final String SI_CONSOLE_PARSER_SIMPLE_ID = "ScannerInfoConsoleParser";	//$NON-NLS-1$
 	public static final String DEFAULT_EXTERNAL_SI_PROVIDER_ID = MakeCorePlugin.getUniqueIdentifier() + ".DefaultExternalScannerInfoProvider"; //$NON-NLS-1$
+
 	public static final String GCC_SPECS_CONSOLE_PARSER_ID = MakeCorePlugin.getUniqueIdentifier() + ".GCCSpecsConsoleParser"; //$NON-NLS-1$
 	public static final String GCC_SCANNER_INFO_CONSOLE_PARSER_ID = MakeCorePlugin.getUniqueIdentifier() + ".GCCScannerInfoConsoleParser"; //$NON-NLS-1$
 	
@@ -104,41 +102,6 @@ public class MakeCorePlugin extends Plugin {
 		return getDefault().getBundle().getSymbolicName();
 	}
 
-	protected void initializeDefaultPluginPreferences() {
-		IMakeBuilderInfo info = createBuildInfo(getPluginPreferences(), MakeBuilder.BUILDER_ID, true);
-		try {
-			info.setBuildCommand(new Path("make")); //$NON-NLS-1$
-			info.setBuildLocation(new Path("")); //$NON-NLS-1$
-			info.setStopOnError(false);
-			info.setUseDefaultBuildCmd(true);
-			info.setAutoBuildEnable(false);
-			info.setAutoBuildTarget("all"); //$NON-NLS-1$
-			info.setIncrementalBuildEnable(true);
-			info.setIncrementalBuildTarget("all"); //$NON-NLS-1$
-			info.setFullBuildEnable(true);
-			info.setFullBuildTarget("clean all"); //$NON-NLS-1$
-			info.setCleanBuildEnable(true);
-			info.setCleanBuildTarget("clean"); //$NON-NLS-1$
-			info.setErrorParsers(CCorePlugin.getDefault().getAllErrorParsersIDs());
-		} catch (CoreException e) {
-		}
-		getPluginPreferences().setDefault(CCorePlugin.PREF_BINARY_PARSER, CCorePlugin.PLUGIN_ID + ".ELF"); //$NON-NLS-1$
-
-		// default plugin preferences for scanner configuration discovery
-		IScannerConfigBuilderInfo scInfo = createScannerConfigBuildInfo(getPluginPreferences(), ScannerConfigBuilder.BUILDER_ID, true);
-		try {
-			scInfo.setAutoDiscoveryEnabled(true);
-			scInfo.setMakeBuilderConsoleParserEnabled(true);
-			scInfo.setESIProviderCommandEnabled(true);
-			scInfo.setUseDefaultESIProviderCmd(true);
-			scInfo.setESIProviderCommand(new Path("gcc")); //$NON-NLS-1$
-			scInfo.setESIProviderArguments("-E -P -v ${plugin_state_location}/${specs_file}");	//$NON-NLS-1$
-			scInfo.setESIProviderConsoleParserId(GCC_SPECS_CONSOLE_PARSER_ID);
-			scInfo.setMakeBuilderConsoleParserId(GCC_SCANNER_INFO_CONSOLE_PARSER_ID);
-		} catch (CoreException e) {
-		}
-	}
-	
 	public static IMakeBuilderInfo createBuildInfo(Preferences prefs, String builderID, boolean useDefaults) {
 		return BuildInfoFactory.create(prefs, builderID, useDefaults);
 	}
diff --git a/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/core/PreferenceInitializer.java b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/core/PreferenceInitializer.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d2995f6ed91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/core/PreferenceInitializer.java
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2004 QNX Software Systems and others. All rights reserved. This
+ * program and the accompanying materials are made available under the terms of
+ * the Common Public License v1.0 which accompanies this distribution, and is
+ * available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/cpl-v10.html
+ * 
+ * Contributors: QNX Software Systems - initial API and implementation
+ ******************************************************************************/
+package org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core;
+
+import org.eclipse.cdt.core.CCorePlugin;
+import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.IMakeBuilderInfo;
+import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.MakeBuilder;
+import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.MakeCorePlugin;
+import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.scannerconfig.IScannerConfigBuilderInfo;
+import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.scannerconfig.ScannerConfigBuilder;
+import org.eclipse.core.runtime.CoreException;
+import org.eclipse.core.runtime.Path;
+import org.eclipse.core.runtime.preferences.AbstractPreferenceInitializer;
+
+
+public class PreferenceInitializer extends AbstractPreferenceInitializer {
+
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.eclipse.core.runtime.preferences.AbstractPreferenceInitializer#initializeDefaultPreferences()
+	 */
+	public void initializeDefaultPreferences() {
+		IMakeBuilderInfo info = MakeCorePlugin.createBuildInfo(MakeCorePlugin.getDefault().getPluginPreferences(), MakeBuilder.BUILDER_ID, true);
+		try {
+			info.setBuildCommand(new Path("make")); //$NON-NLS-1$
+			info.setBuildLocation(new Path("")); //$NON-NLS-1$
+			info.setStopOnError(false);
+			info.setUseDefaultBuildCmd(true);
+			info.setAutoBuildEnable(false);
+			info.setAutoBuildTarget("all"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+			info.setIncrementalBuildEnable(true);
+			info.setIncrementalBuildTarget("all"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+			info.setFullBuildEnable(true);
+			info.setFullBuildTarget("clean all"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+			info.setCleanBuildEnable(true);
+			info.setCleanBuildTarget("clean"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+			info.setErrorParsers(CCorePlugin.getDefault().getAllErrorParsersIDs());
+		} catch (CoreException e) {
+		}
+		MakeCorePlugin.getDefault().getPluginPreferences().setDefault(CCorePlugin.PREF_BINARY_PARSER, CCorePlugin.PLUGIN_ID + ".ELF"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+
+		// default plugin preferences for scanner configuration discovery
+		IScannerConfigBuilderInfo scInfo = MakeCorePlugin.createScannerConfigBuildInfo(MakeCorePlugin.getDefault().getPluginPreferences(), ScannerConfigBuilder.BUILDER_ID, true);
+		try {
+			scInfo.setAutoDiscoveryEnabled(true);
+			scInfo.setMakeBuilderConsoleParserEnabled(true);
+			scInfo.setESIProviderCommandEnabled(true);
+			scInfo.setUseDefaultESIProviderCmd(true);
+			scInfo.setESIProviderCommand(new Path("gcc")); //$NON-NLS-1$
+			scInfo.setESIProviderArguments("-E -P -v ${plugin_state_location}/${specs_file}");	//$NON-NLS-1$
+			scInfo.setESIProviderConsoleParserId(MakeCorePlugin.GCC_SPECS_CONSOLE_PARSER_ID);
+			scInfo.setMakeBuilderConsoleParserId(MakeCorePlugin.GCC_SCANNER_INFO_CONSOLE_PARSER_ID);
+		} catch (CoreException e) {
+		}
+	}
+
+}