diff --git a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Load.scala b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Load.scala
index a45dec8dd..672266c94 100755
--- a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Load.scala
+++ b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Load.scala
@@ -469,7 +469,7 @@ object Load
 			val autoConfigs = autoPlugins.flatMap(_.projectConfigurations)
 			val loadedSbtFiles = loadSbtFiles(project.auto, project.base, autoPlugins, project.settings)
 			// add the automatically selected settings, record the selected AutoPlugins, and register the automatically selected configurations
-			val transformed = project.copy(settings = loadedSbtFiles.settings).setAutoPlugins(autoPlugins).overrideConfigs(autoConfigs : _*)
+			val transformed = project.copy(settings = loadedSbtFiles.settings).setAutoPlugins(autoPlugins).prefixConfigs(autoConfigs : _*)
 			(transformed, loadedSbtFiles.projects)
 		}
 		def defaultLoad = loadSbtFiles(AddSettings.defaultSbtFiles, buildBase, Nil, Nil).projects
diff --git a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Project.scala b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Project.scala
index 06420cf84..b2b4332e8 100755
--- a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Project.scala
+++ b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Project.scala
@@ -109,6 +109,11 @@ sealed trait Project extends ProjectDefinition[ProjectReference]
 	/** Adds configurations to this project.  Added configurations replace existing configurations with the same name.*/
 	def overrideConfigs(cs: Configuration*): Project = copy(configurations = Defaults.overrideConfigs(cs : _*)(configurations))
 
+    /** Adds configuration at the *start* of the configuration list for this rpoject.  Prevous configurations replace this prefix
+     * list with the same name. 
+     */
+    def prefixConfigs(cs: Configuration*): Project = copy(configurations = Defaults.overrideConfigs(configurations : _*)(cs))
+
 	/** Adds new configurations directly to this project.  To override an existing configuration, use `overrideConfigs`. */
 	def configs(cs: Configuration*): Project = copy(configurations = configurations ++ cs)