diff --git a/phpBB/includes/acp/acp_search.php b/phpBB/includes/acp/acp_search.php
index a3061ae2da..a6377f6b49 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/acp/acp_search.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/acp/acp_search.php
@@ -77,7 +77,8 @@ class acp_search
 				continue;
 			}
 
-			$name = ucfirst(strtolower(str_replace('_', ' ', $type)));
+			$name = $search->get_name();
+
 			$selected = ($config['search_type'] == $type) ? ' selected="selected"' : '';
 			$search_options .= '<option value="' . $type . '"' . $selected . '>' . $name . '</option>';
 
@@ -275,7 +276,7 @@ class acp_search
 			{
 				trigger_error($error . adm_back_link($this->u_action), E_USER_WARNING);
 			}
-			$name = ucfirst(strtolower(str_replace('_', ' ', $this->state[0])));
+			$name = $this->search->get_name();
 
 			$action = &$this->state[1];
 
@@ -454,7 +455,7 @@ class acp_search
 				continue;
 			}
 
-			$name = ucfirst(strtolower(str_replace('_', ' ', $type)));
+			$name = $search->get_name();
 
 			$data = array();
 			if (method_exists($search, 'index_stats'))
@@ -553,8 +554,19 @@ class acp_search
 
 	function get_search_types()
 	{
-		global $phpbb_root_path, $phpEx;
+		global $phpbb_root_path, $phpEx, $phpbb_extension_manager;
 
+		$finder = $phpbb_extension_manager->get_finder();
+
+		return $finder
+			->suffix('_backend')
+			->directory('/search')
+			->default_path('includes/search/')
+			->default_suffix('')
+			->default_directory('')
+			->get_classes();
+
+/*
 		$search_types = array();
 
 		$dp = @opendir($phpbb_root_path . 'includes/search');
@@ -574,6 +586,7 @@ class acp_search
 		}
 
 		return $search_types;
+*/
 	}
 
 	function get_max_post_id()
@@ -610,14 +623,6 @@ class acp_search
 	{
 		global $phpbb_root_path, $phpEx, $user;
 
-		if (!preg_match('#^\w+$#', $type) || !file_exists("{$phpbb_root_path}includes/search/$type.$phpEx"))
-		{
-			$error = $user->lang['NO_SUCH_SEARCH_MODULE'];
-			return $error;
-		}
-
-		include_once("{$phpbb_root_path}includes/search/$type.$phpEx");
-
 		if (!class_exists($type))
 		{
 			$error = $user->lang['NO_SUCH_SEARCH_MODULE'];
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/functions_posting.php b/phpBB/includes/functions_posting.php
index 4ca76344de..adc285cf6e 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/functions_posting.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/functions_posting.php
@@ -2350,16 +2350,11 @@ function submit_post($mode, $subject, $username, $topic_type, &$poll, &$data, $u
 	if ($update_search_index && $data['enable_indexing'])
 	{
 		// Select the search method and do some additional checks to ensure it can actually be utilised
-		$search_type = basename($config['search_type']);
-
-		if (!file_exists($phpbb_root_path . 'includes/search/' . $search_type . '.' . $phpEx))
-		{
-			trigger_error('NO_SUCH_SEARCH_MODULE');
-		}
+		$search_type = $config['search_type'];
 
 		if (!class_exists($search_type))
 		{
-			include("{$phpbb_root_path}includes/search/$search_type.$phpEx");
+			trigger_error('NO_SUCH_SEARCH_MODULE');
 		}
 
 		$error = false;
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/search/search.php b/phpBB/includes/search/base.php
similarity index 99%
rename from phpBB/includes/search/search.php
rename to phpBB/includes/search/base.php
index 7c34ce9ff6..bb63957aba 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/search/search.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/search/base.php
@@ -24,12 +24,12 @@ define('SEARCH_RESULT_IN_CACHE', 1);
 define('SEARCH_RESULT_INCOMPLETE', 2);
 
 /**
-* search_backend
+* phpbb_search_base
 * optional base class for search plugins providing simple caching based on ACM
 * and functions to retrieve ignore_words and synonyms
 * @package search
 */
-class search_backend
+class phpbb_search_base
 {
 	var $ignore_words = array();
 	var $match_synonym = array();
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_mysql.php b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_mysql.php
index 827205f20d..b9920da624 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_mysql.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_mysql.php
@@ -16,17 +16,12 @@ if (!defined('IN_PHPBB'))
 	exit;
 }
 
-/**
-* @ignore
-*/
-include_once($phpbb_root_path . 'includes/search/search.' . $phpEx);
-
 /**
 * fulltext_mysql
 * Fulltext search for MySQL
 * @package search
 */
-class fulltext_mysql extends search_backend
+class phpbb_search_fulltext_mysql extends phpbb_search_base
 {
 	var $stats = array();
 	var $word_length = array();
@@ -36,7 +31,7 @@ class fulltext_mysql extends search_backend
 	var $pcre_properties = false;
 	var $mbstring_regex = false;
 
-	function fulltext_mysql(&$error)
+	public function __construct(&$error)
 	{
 		global $config;
 
@@ -57,6 +52,11 @@ class fulltext_mysql extends search_backend
 		$error = false;
 	}
 
+	function get_name()
+	{
+		return 'MySQL Fulltext';
+	}
+
 	/**
 	* Checks for correct MySQL version and stores min/max word length in the config
 	*/
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_native.php b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_native.php
index e749e86f68..7c792bba24 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_native.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_native.php
@@ -16,17 +16,12 @@ if (!defined('IN_PHPBB'))
 	exit;
 }
 
-/**
-* @ignore
-*/
-include_once($phpbb_root_path . 'includes/search/search.' . $phpEx);
-
 /**
 * fulltext_native
 * phpBB's own db driven fulltext search, version 2
 * @package search
 */
-class fulltext_native extends search_backend
+class phpbb_search_fulltext_native extends phpbb_search_base
 {
 	var $stats = array();
 	var $word_length = array();
@@ -41,10 +36,8 @@ class fulltext_native extends search_backend
 	* Initialises the fulltext_native search backend with min/max word length and makes sure the UTF-8 normalizer is loaded.
 	*
 	* @param	boolean|string	&$error	is passed by reference and should either be set to false on success or an error message on failure.
-	*
-	* @access	public
 	*/
-	function fulltext_native(&$error)
+	public function __construct(&$error)
 	{
 		global $phpbb_root_path, $phpEx, $config;
 
@@ -58,10 +51,14 @@ class fulltext_native extends search_backend
 			include($phpbb_root_path . 'includes/utf/utf_normalizer.' . $phpEx);
 		}
 
-
 		$error = false;
 	}
 
+	function get_name()
+	{
+		return 'phpBB Native Fulltext';
+	}
+
 	/**
 	* This function fills $this->search_query with the cleaned user search query.
 	*
diff --git a/phpBB/install/database_update.php b/phpBB/install/database_update.php
index b2419df3c9..1f3c01ee3e 100644
--- a/phpBB/install/database_update.php
+++ b/phpBB/install/database_update.php
@@ -2106,6 +2106,10 @@ function change_database_data(&$no_updates, $version)
 
 		// Changes from 3.1.0-dev to 3.1.0-A1
 		case '3.1.0-dev':
+			// try to guess the new auto loaded search class name
+			// works for native and mysql fulltext
+			set_config('search_type', 'phpbb_search_' . $config['search_type']);
+
 			set_config('use_system_cron', 0);
 
 			$sql = 'UPDATE ' . GROUPS_TABLE . '
diff --git a/phpBB/install/schemas/schema_data.sql b/phpBB/install/schemas/schema_data.sql
index 5506922e17..bd7334f9d4 100644
--- a/phpBB/install/schemas/schema_data.sql
+++ b/phpBB/install/schemas/schema_data.sql
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ INSERT INTO phpbb_config (config_name, config_value) VALUES ('search_block_size'
 INSERT INTO phpbb_config (config_name, config_value) VALUES ('search_gc', '7200');
 INSERT INTO phpbb_config (config_name, config_value) VALUES ('search_interval', '0');
 INSERT INTO phpbb_config (config_name, config_value) VALUES ('search_anonymous_interval', '0');
-INSERT INTO phpbb_config (config_name, config_value) VALUES ('search_type', 'fulltext_native');
+INSERT INTO phpbb_config (config_name, config_value) VALUES ('search_type', 'phpbb_search_fulltext_native');
 INSERT INTO phpbb_config (config_name, config_value) VALUES ('search_store_results', '1800');
 INSERT INTO phpbb_config (config_name, config_value) VALUES ('secure_allow_deny', '1');
 INSERT INTO phpbb_config (config_name, config_value) VALUES ('secure_allow_empty_referer', '1');
diff --git a/phpBB/search.php b/phpBB/search.php
index 1d35dfb062..c6189051a3 100644
--- a/phpBB/search.php
+++ b/phpBB/search.php
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ switch ($search_id)
 			login_box('', $user->lang['LOGIN_EXPLAIN_UNREADSEARCH']);
 		}
 	break;
-	
+
 	// The "new posts" search uses user_lastvisit which is user based, so it should require user to log in.
 	case 'newposts':
 		if ($user->data['user_id'] == ANONYMOUS)
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ switch ($search_id)
 			login_box('', $user->lang['LOGIN_EXPLAIN_NEWPOSTS']);
 		}
 	break;
-	
+
 	default:
 		// There's nothing to do here for now ;)
 	break;
@@ -273,15 +273,12 @@ if ($keywords || $author || $author_id || $search_id || $submit)
 	}
 
 	// Select which method we'll use to obtain the post_id or topic_id information
-	$search_type = basename($config['search_type']);
+	$search_type = $config['search_type'];
 
-	if (!file_exists($phpbb_root_path . 'includes/search/' . $search_type . '.' . $phpEx))
+	if (!class_exists($search_type))
 	{
 		trigger_error('NO_SUCH_SEARCH_MODULE');
 	}
-
-	require("{$phpbb_root_path}includes/search/$search_type.$phpEx");
-
 	// We do some additional checks in the module to ensure it can actually be utilised
 	$error = false;
 	$search = new $search_type($error);