diff -r ba47909a9f7d autoupdate.services/src/org/netbeans/modules/autoupdate/services/Utilities.java
--- a/autoupdate.services/src/org/netbeans/modules/autoupdate/services/Utilities.java	Tue Apr 10 15:20:04 2012 +0200
+++ b/autoupdate.services/src/org/netbeans/modules/autoupdate/services/Utilities.java	Tue Apr 10 15:33:17 2012 +0200
@@ -59,10 +59,12 @@
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
 import java.util.prefs.Preferences;
 import org.netbeans.Module;
+import org.netbeans.ModuleInstaller;
 import org.netbeans.ModuleManager;
 import org.netbeans.api.autoupdate.UpdateElement;
 import org.netbeans.api.autoupdate.UpdateManager;
 import org.netbeans.api.autoupdate.UpdateUnit;
+import org.netbeans.core.startup.AutomaticDependencies;
 import org.netbeans.core.startup.Main;
 import org.netbeans.core.startup.TopLogging;
 import org.netbeans.modules.autoupdate.updateprovider.DummyModuleInfo;
@@ -663,6 +665,10 @@
             UpdateElement el,
             boolean agressive) {
         Set<Dependency> res = new HashSet<Dependency> ();
+        AutomaticDependencies.Report rep = AutomaticDependencies.getDefault().refineDependenciesAndReport(el.getCodeName(), original);
+        if (rep.isModified()) {
+            err.warning(rep.toString());
+        }
         for (Dependency dep : original) {
             Collection<UpdateElement> requestedElements = handleDependency (el, dep, availableInfos, brokenDependencies, agressive);
             if (requestedElements != null) {
diff -r ba47909a9f7d core.startup/apichanges.xml
--- a/core.startup/apichanges.xml	Tue Apr 10 15:20:04 2012 +0200
+++ b/core.startup/apichanges.xml	Tue Apr 10 15:33:17 2012 +0200
@@ -56,6 +56,21 @@
 <!-- ACTUAL CHANGES BEGIN HERE: -->
 
   <changes>
+     <change id="get-default-automatic-dependencies">
+        <api name="bridge"/>
+        <summary>getDefault</summary>
+        <version major="1" minor="39"/>
+        <date day="13" month="4" year="2012"/>
+        <author login="jrechtacek"/>
+        <compatibility addition="yes" binary="compatible" semantic="compatible" />
+        <description>
+        <p>
+            Returns instance of AutomaticDependencies based on default
+            list of transformations.
+        </p>
+        </description>
+        <class package="org.netbeans.core.startup" name="AutomaticDependencies"/>
+    </change>
      <change id="is.au.visible">
         <api name="bridge"/>
         <summary>isShowInAutoUpdateClient</summary>
diff -r ba47909a9f7d core.startup/manifest.mf
--- a/core.startup/manifest.mf	Tue Apr 10 15:20:04 2012 +0200
+++ b/core.startup/manifest.mf	Tue Apr 10 15:33:17 2012 +0200
@@ -3,5 +3,5 @@
 OpenIDE-Module-Localizing-Bundle: org/netbeans/core/startup/Bundle.properties
 OpenIDE-Module-Layer: org/netbeans/core/startup/layer.xml
 OpenIDE-Module-Provides: org.openide.modules.InstalledFileLocator
-OpenIDE-Module-Specification-Version: 1.38
+OpenIDE-Module-Specification-Version: 1.39
 
diff -r ba47909a9f7d core.startup/src/org/netbeans/core/startup/AutomaticDependencies.java
--- a/core.startup/src/org/netbeans/core/startup/AutomaticDependencies.java	Tue Apr 10 15:20:04 2012 +0200
+++ b/core.startup/src/org/netbeans/core/startup/AutomaticDependencies.java	Tue Apr 10 15:33:17 2012 +0200
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
 import org.netbeans.ModuleInstaller;
 import org.netbeans.Util;
+import org.openide.filesystems.FileObject;
+import org.openide.filesystems.FileUtil;
 import org.openide.modules.Dependency;
 import org.openide.modules.SpecificationVersion;
 import org.openide.xml.XMLUtil;
@@ -87,6 +89,7 @@
  */
 public final class AutomaticDependencies {
     private static final Logger LOG = Logger.getLogger(AutomaticDependencies.class.getName());
+    private static AutomaticDependencies INSTANCE;
 
     private AutomaticDependencies() {}
     
@@ -98,6 +101,46 @@
         return new AutomaticDependencies();
     }
     
+    /** Create default list of transformations.
+     * This is now all handled from declarative configuration files:
+     * in the system filesystem, ModuleAutoDeps/*.xml may be added
+     * according to the DTD "-//NetBeans//DTD Module Automatic Dependencies 1.0//EN".
+     * 
+     * @since 1.39
+     * @return the default list
+     */
+    public static AutomaticDependencies getDefault() {
+        if (INSTANCE != null) {
+            return INSTANCE;
+        }
+        
+        FileObject depsFolder = FileUtil.getConfigFile("ModuleAutoDeps");
+        if (depsFolder != null) {
+            FileObject[] kids = depsFolder.getChildren();
+            List<URL> urls = new ArrayList<URL>(Math.max(kids.length, 1));
+            for (FileObject kid : kids) {
+                if (kid.hasExt("xml")) { // NOI18N
+                    urls.add(kid.toURL());
+                }
+            }
+            try {
+                INSTANCE = AutomaticDependencies.parse(urls.toArray(new URL[urls.size()]));
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                Util.err.log(Level.WARNING, null, e);
+            } catch (SAXException e) {
+                Util.err.log(Level.WARNING, null, e);
+            }
+        }
+        if (INSTANCE == null) {
+            // Parsing failed, or no files.
+            INSTANCE = AutomaticDependencies.empty();
+        }
+        if (Util.err.isLoggable(Level.FINE)) {
+            Util.err.fine("Auto deps: " + INSTANCE);
+        }
+        return INSTANCE;
+    }
+    
     /**
      * Create a list of transformations based on some XML files.
      * They must be valid (this method may not validate them).
diff -r ba47909a9f7d core.startup/src/org/netbeans/core/startup/NbInstaller.java
--- a/core.startup/src/org/netbeans/core/startup/NbInstaller.java	Tue Apr 10 15:20:04 2012 +0200
+++ b/core.startup/src/org/netbeans/core/startup/NbInstaller.java	Tue Apr 10 15:33:17 2012 +0200
@@ -727,8 +727,6 @@
     }
 
     
-    private AutomaticDependencies autoDepsHandler = null;
-    
     /** Overridden to perform automatic API upgrades.
      * That is, should do nothing on new modules, but for older ones will
      * automatically make them depend on things they need.
@@ -748,33 +746,7 @@
             // Skip them all - useful for unit tests.
             return;
         }
-        if (autoDepsHandler == null) {
-            FileObject depsFolder = FileUtil.getConfigFile("ModuleAutoDeps");
-            if (depsFolder != null) {
-                FileObject[] kids = depsFolder.getChildren();
-                List<URL> urls = new ArrayList<URL>(Math.max(kids.length, 1));
-                for (FileObject kid : kids) {
-                    if (kid.hasExt("xml")) { // NOI18N
-                        urls.add(kid.toURL());
-                    }
-                }
-                try {
-                    autoDepsHandler = AutomaticDependencies.parse(urls.toArray(new URL[urls.size()]));
-                } catch (IOException e) {
-                    Util.err.log(Level.WARNING, null, e);
-                } catch (SAXException e) {
-                    Util.err.log(Level.WARNING, null, e);
-                }
-            }
-            if (autoDepsHandler == null) {
-                // Parsing failed, or no files.
-                autoDepsHandler = AutomaticDependencies.empty();
-            }
-            if (Util.err.isLoggable(Level.FINE)) {
-                Util.err.fine("Auto deps: " + autoDepsHandler);
-            }
-        }
-        AutomaticDependencies.Report rep = autoDepsHandler.refineDependenciesAndReport(m.getCodeNameBase(), dependencies);
+        AutomaticDependencies.Report rep = AutomaticDependencies.getDefault().refineDependenciesAndReport(m.getCodeNameBase(), dependencies);
         if (rep.isModified()) {
             Util.err.warning(rep.toString());
         }