diff --git a/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/ui/editor/MakefileEditor.java b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/ui/editor/MakefileEditor.java
index e5b48e631c4..8b88bfda1b4 100644
--- a/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/ui/editor/MakefileEditor.java
+++ b/build/org.eclipse.cdt.make.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/make/internal/ui/editor/MakefileEditor.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*******************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2000, 2007 QNX Software Systems and others.
+ * Copyright (c) 2000, 2008 QNX Software Systems 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
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  *
  * Contributors:
  *     QNX Software Systems - Initial API and implementation
- *     Anton Leherbauer, Wind River Systems, Inc.
+ *     Anton Leherbauer (Wind River Systems)
  *******************************************************************************/
 package org.eclipse.cdt.make.internal.ui.editor;
 
@@ -443,4 +443,13 @@ public class MakefileEditor extends TextEditor implements ISelectionChangedListe
 		System.arraycopy(parentPrefPageIds, 0, prefPageIds, nIds, parentPrefPageIds.length);
 		return prefPageIds;
 	}
+	
+	/*
+	 * @see org.eclipse.ui.texteditor.AbstractDecoratedTextEditor#isTabsToSpacesConversionEnabled()
+	 */
+	protected boolean isTabsToSpacesConversionEnabled() {
+		// always false for Makefiles
+		// see http://bugs.eclipse.org/186106
+		return false;
+	}
 }