diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 33d7b702..9d9c875b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ## [Unreleased]
 
 
+### Change
+- configure ecj to use .settings/org.eclipse.jdt.core.prefs when present
+
+
 ## [6.0.0] - 2024-09-10
 
 ### Fix
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index bc40818d..f74f9475 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -283,6 +283,7 @@
                setProjectProp("maven.javadoc.skip", "true");
             }
 
+
             /*
              * loading/locating eclipse Java compiler artifact
              */
@@ -298,6 +299,16 @@
             setProjectProp("custom.ecjJarPath", ecjArtifact.file.absolutePath);
 
 
+           /*
+            * check if .settings/org.eclipse.jdt.core.prefs is present
+            */
+           jdtCorePrefsFile = new File(project.basedir, ".settings/org.eclipse.jdt.core.prefs");
+           if(jdtCorePrefsFile.exists()) {
+             setProjectProp("custom.ecjProperties", "-properties \"" + jdtCorePrefsFile + "\"");
+           } else {
+             setProjectProp("custom.ecjProperties", "-g"); /* using -g just as placeholder to prevent "Unrecognized option : ''"*/
+           }
+
             /*
              * determine bootclasspath for compilation of src/main/java
              */
@@ -347,7 +358,6 @@
             } else {
                setProjectProp("custom.noJavaTests", "true");
             }
-
          } else /* if(!isJavaCompilable)*/ {
             setProjectProp("custom.noJavaTests", "true");
             setProjectProp("maven.javadoc.skip", "true");
@@ -923,6 +933,7 @@
                         ${custom.compileBootClasspathOption} "${custom.compileBootClasspath}"
                         -encoding ${project.build.sourceEncoding}
                         -g<!-- include debug info -->
+                        ${custom.ecjProperties}<!--load org.eclipse.jdt.core.prefs-->
                         -parameters<!-- generate method parameters attribute
                           TODO enabling this option breaks
                           1) maven-bundle-plugin with "java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: invalid signature: *"
@@ -954,6 +965,7 @@
                         ${custom.compileBootClasspathOption} "${custom.compileBootClasspath}"
                         -encoding ${project.build.sourceEncoding}
                         -g<!-- include debug info -->
+                        ${custom.ecjProperties}<!--load org.eclipse.jdt.core.prefs-->
                         -parameters<!-- generate method parameters attribute -->
                         -genericsignature<!-- generate generic signature for lambda expressions -->
                         -maxProblems 10<!-- max. number of problems per compilation unit -->