diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/PrecommitTasks.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/PrecommitTasks.groovy
index c0573b4a74358..7e0d466c859e7 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/PrecommitTasks.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/PrecommitTasks.groovy
@@ -65,10 +65,6 @@ class PrecommitTasks {
             precommitTasks.add(configureLoggerUsage(project))
         }
 
-        if (project.path.startsWith(":x-pack:plugin:")) {
-            precommitTasks.add(configureFeatureAware(project))
-        }
-
         Map<String, Object> precommitOptions = [
             name: 'precommit',
             group: JavaBasePlugin.VERIFICATION_GROUP,
@@ -180,23 +176,4 @@ class PrecommitTasks {
         return loggerUsageTask
     }
 
-    private static Task configureFeatureAware(final Project project) {
-        final Task featureAwareTask = project.tasks.create('featureAwareCheck', FeatureAwareTask.class)
-
-        // see the root Gradle file for additional logic regarding this configuration
-        project.configurations.create('featureAwarePlugin')
-        project.dependencies.add(
-                'featureAwarePlugin',
-                "org.elasticsearch.xpack.test:feature-aware:${org.elasticsearch.gradle.VersionProperties.elasticsearch}")
-        project.dependencies.add(
-                'featureAwarePlugin',
-                project.sourceSets.main.output.getClassesDirs())
-
-        featureAwareTask.configure { FeatureAwareTask fat ->
-            fat.classpath = project.configurations.featureAwarePlugin
-        }
-
-        return featureAwareTask
-    }
-
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle
index 4a0b29c42582a..0eb7e3b1c0edc 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle
@@ -1,12 +1,8 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.gradle.LoggedExec
-import org.elasticsearch.gradle.MavenFilteringHack
+import org.elasticsearch.gradle.precommit.FeatureAwareTask
 import org.elasticsearch.gradle.test.NodeInfo
 
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
-import java.nio.file.Files
-import java.nio.file.Path
-import java.nio.file.StandardCopyOption
-import org.elasticsearch.gradle.test.RunTask;
 
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.standalone-rest-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.rest-test'
@@ -17,6 +13,26 @@ dependencies {
   testCompile project(path: xpackModule('core'), configuration: 'testArtifacts')
 }
 
+subprojects {
+  final SourceSet main = project.sourceSets.findByName("main")
+  if (main != null) {
+    final FeatureAwareTask featureAwareTask = project.tasks.create('featureAwareCheck', FeatureAwareTask.class)
+
+    // see the root Gradle file for additional logic regarding this configuration
+    project.configurations.create('featureAwarePlugin')
+    project.dependencies.add(
+            'featureAwarePlugin',
+            "org.elasticsearch.xpack.test:feature-aware:${org.elasticsearch.gradle.VersionProperties.elasticsearch}")
+    project.dependencies.add('featureAwarePlugin', main.output.getClassesDirs())
+
+    featureAwareTask.configure { FeatureAwareTask fat ->
+      fat.classpath = project.configurations.featureAwarePlugin
+    }
+
+    project.precommit.dependsOn featureAwareTask
+  }
+}
+
 // https://github.com/elastic/x-plugins/issues/724
 configurations {
   testArtifacts.extendsFrom testRuntime