diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/FeatureAwareTask.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/FeatureAwareTask.groovy
deleted file mode 100644
index 2f03271812b25..0000000000000
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/FeatureAwareTask.groovy
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,89 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
- * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright
- * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
- * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
- * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
- * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
- * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
- * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
- * specific language governing permissions and limitations
- * under the License.
- */
-
-package org.elasticsearch.gradle.precommit
-
-import org.elasticsearch.gradle.LoggedExec
-import org.gradle.api.file.FileCollection
-import org.gradle.api.tasks.InputFiles
-import org.gradle.api.tasks.OutputFile
-
-class FeatureAwareTask extends LoggedExec {
-
-    // we touch this when the task succeeds
-    private File successMarker = new File(project.buildDir, 'markers/featureAware')
-
-    private FileCollection classpath
-
-    private FileCollection classDirectories
-
-    FeatureAwareTask() {
-        description = "Runs FeatureAwareCheck on main classes."
-        project.afterEvaluate {
-            dependsOn classpath
-            executable = new File(project.runtimeJavaHome, 'bin/java')
-            if (classDirectories == null) {
-                // default to main class files if such a source set exists
-                final List files = []
-                if (project.sourceSets.findByName("main")) {
-                    files.add(project.sourceSets.main.output.classesDir)
-                    dependsOn project.tasks.classes
-                }
-                // filter out non-existent classes directories from empty source sets
-                classDirectories = project.files(files).filter { it.exists() }
-            }
-            doFirst {
-                args('-cp', getClasspath().asPath, 'org.elasticsearch.xpack.test.feature_aware.FeatureAwareCheck')
-                getClassDirectories().each { args it.getAbsolutePath() }
-            }
-            doLast {
-                successMarker.parentFile.mkdirs()
-                successMarker.setText("", 'UTF-8')
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    @InputFiles
-    FileCollection getClasspath() {
-        return classpath
-    }
-
-    void setClasspath(final FileCollection classpath) {
-        this.classpath = classpath
-    }
-
-    @InputFiles
-    FileCollection getClassDirectories() {
-        return classDirectories
-    }
-
-    void setClassDirectories(final FileCollection classDirectories) {
-        this.classDirectories = classDirectories
-    }
-
-    @OutputFile
-    File getSuccessMarker() {
-        return successMarker
-    }
-
-    void setSuccessMarker(final File successMarker) {
-        this.successMarker = successMarker
-    }
-
-}
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle
index 0eb7e3b1c0edc..007bca7ff40d4 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.gradle.LoggedExec
-import org.elasticsearch.gradle.precommit.FeatureAwareTask
+import org.elasticsearch.gradle.plugin.PluginBuildPlugin
 import org.elasticsearch.gradle.test.NodeInfo
 
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
@@ -14,22 +14,46 @@ dependencies {
 }
 
 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:${org.elasticsearch.gradle.VersionProperties.elasticsearch}")
-    project.dependencies.add('featureAwarePlugin', main.output.getClassesDirs())
-
-    featureAwareTask.configure { FeatureAwareTask fat ->
-      fat.classpath = project.configurations.featureAwarePlugin
-    }
+  afterEvaluate {
+    if (project.plugins.hasPlugin(PluginBuildPlugin)) {
+      // see the root Gradle file for additional logic regarding this configuration
+      project.configurations.create('featureAwarePlugin')
+      project.dependencies.add('featureAwarePlugin', project.configurations.runtime)
+      project.dependencies.add(
+              'featureAwarePlugin',
+              "org.elasticsearch.xpack.test:feature-aware:${org.elasticsearch.gradle.VersionProperties.elasticsearch}")
+      project.dependencies.add('featureAwarePlugin', project.sourceSets.main.output.getClassesDirs())
+
+      final Task featureAwareTask = project.tasks.create("featureAwareCheck", LoggedExec) {
+        description = "Runs FeatureAwareCheck on main classes."
+        dependsOn project.configurations.featureAwarePlugin
+
+        final File successMarker = new File(project.buildDir, 'markers/featureAware')
+        outputs.file(successMarker)
+
+        executable = new File(project.runtimeJavaHome, 'bin/java')
+
+        // default to main class files if such a source set exists
+        final List files = []
+        if (project.sourceSets.findByName("main")) {
+          files.add(project.sourceSets.main.output.classesDir)
+          dependsOn project.tasks.classes
+        }
+        // filter out non-existent classes directories from empty source sets
+        final FileCollection classDirectories = project.files(files).filter { it.exists() }
 
-    project.precommit.dependsOn featureAwareTask
+        doFirst {
+          args('-cp', project.configurations.featureAwarePlugin.asPath, 'org.elasticsearch.xpack.test.feature_aware.FeatureAwareCheck')
+          classDirectories.each { args it.getAbsolutePath() }
+        }
+        doLast {
+          successMarker.parentFile.mkdirs()
+          successMarker.setText("", 'UTF-8')
+        }
+      }
+
+      project.precommit.dependsOn featureAwareTask
+    }
   }
 }