diff --git a/Source/cmSourceFile.cxx b/Source/cmSourceFile.cxx
index c9021119d1..8905b0cc07 100644
--- a/Source/cmSourceFile.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmSourceFile.cxx
@@ -368,6 +368,15 @@ void cmSourceFile::DefineProperties(cmake *cm)
      "has improved escape support.  Instead consider defining the macro "
      "in a (configured) header file.  Then report the limitation.");
 
+
+  cm->DefineProperty
+    ("<CONFIG>_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS", cmProperty::SOURCE_FILE,
+     "Per-configuration preprocessor definitions on a source file.",
+     "This is the configuration-specific version of "
+     "COMPILE_DEFINITIONS.  Note that Xcode does not support "
+     "per-configuration source file flags so this property will "
+     "be ignored by the Xcode generator."); 
+
   cm->DefineProperty
     ("EXTERNAL_OBJECT", cmProperty::SOURCE_FILE, 
      "If set to true then this is an object file.",
diff --git a/Source/cmTarget.cxx b/Source/cmTarget.cxx
index 016aa1c8c2..eaf8f70973 100644
--- a/Source/cmTarget.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmTarget.cxx
@@ -94,6 +94,11 @@ void cmTarget::DefineProperties(cmake *cm)
      "has improved escape support.  Instead consider defining the macro "
      "in a (configured) header file.  Then report the limitation.");
 
+  cm->DefineProperty
+    ("<CONFIG>_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS", cmProperty::TARGET,
+     "Per-configuration preprocessor definitions on a target.",
+     "This is the configuration-specific version of COMPILE_DEFINITIONS.");
+
   cm->DefineProperty
     ("DEFINE_SYMBOL", cmProperty::TARGET,
      "Define a symbol when compiling this target's sources.",