diff --git a/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
index 3a2cbd5d68b..fb8700a967e 100644
--- a/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
+++ b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.core/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Export-Package: org.eclipse.cdt.make.core,
  org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.scannerconfig,
  org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core;x-internal:=true,
  org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core.makefile;x-internal:=true,
- org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core.makefile.gnu;x-internal:=true,
+ org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core.makefile.gnu;x-friends:="org.eclipse.cdt.make.ui",
  org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core.makefile.posix;x-internal:=true,
  org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core.scannerconfig;x-internal:=true,
  org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core.scannerconfig.gnu;x-internal:=true,
diff --git a/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/ui/text/makefile/AutomaticVariableReferenceRule.java b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/ui/text/makefile/AutomaticVariableReferenceRule.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f5662433e12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/ui/text/makefile/AutomaticVariableReferenceRule.java
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2013, 2013 Andrew Gvozdev and others.
+ * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+ * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
+ * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
+ * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+ *
+ * Contributors:
+ *     Andrew Gvozdev - Initial API and implementation
+ *******************************************************************************/
+package org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.ui.text.makefile;
+
+import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.makefile.IDirective;
+import org.eclipse.cdt.make.core.makefile.gnu.IVariableDefinition;
+import org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.core.makefile.gnu.GNUMakefile;
+import org.eclipse.jface.text.rules.IToken;
+import org.eclipse.jface.text.rules.IWordDetector;
+import org.eclipse.jface.text.rules.WordRule;
+
+/**
+ * Rule used to highlight automatic variables in the editor.
+ */
+public class AutomaticVariableReferenceRule extends WordRule {
+	private static final char DOLLAR_SIGN = '$';
+
+	/**
+	 * Constructor.
+	 * @param token - the token to be returned by the rule.
+	 */
+	public AutomaticVariableReferenceRule(IToken token) {
+		super(new IWordDetector() {
+			int count = 0;
+			@Override
+			public boolean isWordPart(char c) {
+				count++;
+				return count <= 2;
+			}
+			@Override
+			public boolean isWordStart(char c) {
+				count = 1;
+				return c == DOLLAR_SIGN;
+			}
+		});
+		// Add automatic variables
+		for (IDirective var : new GNUMakefile().getBuiltins()) {
+			if (var instanceof IVariableDefinition) {
+				addWord(DOLLAR_SIGN + ((IVariableDefinition) var).getName(), token);
+			}
+		}
+		// Add also $0-$9 variables
+		for (int n = 0; n <= 9; n++) {
+			addWord(Character.toString(DOLLAR_SIGN) + n, token);
+		}
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/ui/text/makefile/MakefileCodeScanner.java b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/ui/text/makefile/MakefileCodeScanner.java
index a11c29ab1c5..c7d45c07866 100644
--- a/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/ui/text/makefile/MakefileCodeScanner.java
+++ b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/ui/text/makefile/MakefileCodeScanner.java
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ public class MakefileCodeScanner extends AbstractMakefileCodeScanner {
 
 		rules.add(new FunctionReferenceRule(function));
 
+		rules.add(new AutomaticVariableReferenceRule(macroRef));
 		rules.add(new MacroReferenceRule(macroRef, "$(", ")")); //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
 		rules.add(new MacroReferenceRule(macroRef, "${", "}")); //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$