diff --git a/org.erlide.backend/src/org/erlide/backend/internal/Backend.java b/org.erlide.backend/src/org/erlide/backend/internal/Backend.java
index 73b57ed968..d2d2a67438 100644
--- a/org.erlide.backend/src/org/erlide/backend/internal/Backend.java
+++ b/org.erlide.backend/src/org/erlide/backend/internal/Backend.java
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 /*******************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2009 Vlad Dumitrescu 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
+ * Copyright (c) 2009 Vlad Dumitrescu 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:
- *     Vlad Dumitrescu
+ * Contributors: Vlad Dumitrescu
  *******************************************************************************/
 package org.erlide.backend.internal;
 
@@ -103,7 +101,9 @@ protected boolean startErlideApps(final OtpErlangPid jRex, final boolean watch)
             switch (data.getContext()) {
             case IDE:
                 site.call("erlide_builder_app", "init", "");
-                site.call("erlide_ide_app", "init", "");
+                if (!SystemConfiguration.isHeadless()) {
+                    site.call("erlide_ide_app", "init", "");
+                }
                 break;
             default:
             }
diff --git a/org.erlide.core/src/org/erlide/core/ErlangCore.java b/org.erlide.core/src/org/erlide/core/ErlangCore.java
index 16512a707b..8356c8ae21 100644
--- a/org.erlide.core/src/org/erlide/core/ErlangCore.java
+++ b/org.erlide.core/src/org/erlide/core/ErlangCore.java
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 /*******************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2000, 2004 IBM Corporation 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
+ * Copyright (c) 2000, 2004 IBM Corporation 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:
- *     IBM Corporation
+ * Contributors: IBM Corporation
  *******************************************************************************/
 package org.erlide.core;
 
@@ -64,13 +62,19 @@ public void start() throws CoreException {
         final String version = retrieveFeatureVersion();
 
         ErlLogger.info("Starting CORE " + Thread.currentThread());
-        String dev = "(" + EncodingUtils.getEncoding() + ") ";
+        String dev = "(" + EncodingUtils.getEncoding() + ")";
         if (SystemConfiguration.getInstance().isDeveloper()) {
             dev += " developer version ***";
         }
         if (SystemConfiguration.getInstance().isTest()) {
             dev += " test ***";
         }
+        if (SystemConfiguration.isHeadless()) {
+            dev += " headless";
+        } else {
+            dev += " ui";
+        }
+
         final String versionBanner = "*** starting Erlide v" + version + " *** " + dev;
         logger.log(Level.INFO, versionBanner);
         featureVersion = version;
diff --git a/org.erlide.util/src/org/erlide/util/SystemConfiguration.java b/org.erlide.util/src/org/erlide/util/SystemConfiguration.java
index f703805968..c60b186d2d 100644
--- a/org.erlide.util/src/org/erlide/util/SystemConfiguration.java
+++ b/org.erlide.util/src/org/erlide/util/SystemConfiguration.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package org.erlide.util;
 
+import org.eclipse.core.runtime.Platform;
+
 public final class SystemConfiguration {
 
     private static SystemConfiguration instance = new SystemConfiguration();
@@ -134,4 +136,8 @@ private void setMaxParallelBuilds(final String text) {
     public int getMaxParallelBuilds() {
         return maxParallelBuilds;
     }
+
+    public static boolean isHeadless() {
+        return Platform.getBundle("org.erlide.ui") == null;
+    }
 }