diff --git a/.gsoc/todo.txt b/.gsoc/todo.txt
index b9a860860..959835c0c 100644
--- a/.gsoc/todo.txt
+++ b/.gsoc/todo.txt
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 restore cache'ing in phpmyadmin.css.php
 remove debug from user preferences header
 
-marker for extension dependent options (SOAP for sql validation)
 
 info about setup script in prefs manage, it seems many people still don't know it exists
 (and maybe some description in docs on making it work with live configuration?)
 
-info for constrained values (eg. MaxDbList)?
+
+show blacklist (and debug?) on prefs manage page
diff --git a/libraries/config/Form.class.php b/libraries/config/Form.class.php
index dcdba3190..ddf6a0f83 100644
--- a/libraries/config/Form.class.php
+++ b/libraries/config/Form.class.php
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ class Form
                 $value = array_combine($keys, $value);
             }
         }
+
         // $value has keys and value names, return it
         return $value;
     }
diff --git a/libraries/config/FormDisplay.class.php b/libraries/config/FormDisplay.class.php
index b1caa788e..eba4d0d77 100644
--- a/libraries/config/FormDisplay.class.php
+++ b/libraries/config/FormDisplay.class.php
@@ -374,6 +374,7 @@ class FormDisplay
                 }
             }
         }
+        $this->_setComments($system_path, $opts);
 
         // send default value to form's JS
         $js_line = '\'' . $translated_path . '\': ';
@@ -705,5 +706,67 @@ class FormDisplay
             $this->userprefs_disallow = array_flip($userprefs_disallow);
         }
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Sets field comments and warnings based on current environment
+     *
+     * @param string $system_path
+     * @param array  $opts
+     */
+    private function _setComments($system_path, array &$opts)
+    {
+        // RecodingEngine - mark unavailable types
+        if ($system_path == 'RecodingEngine') {
+            $comment = '';
+            if (!function_exists('iconv')) {
+                $opts['values']['iconv'] .= ' (' . __('unavailable') . ')';
+                $comment = sprintf(__('"%s" requires %s extension'), 'iconv', 'iconv');
+            }
+            if (!function_exists('recode_string')) {
+                $opts['values']['recode'] .= ' (' . __('unavailable') . ')';
+                $comment .= ($comment ? ", " : '') . sprintf(__('"%s" requires %s extension'),
+                    'recode', 'recode');
+            }
+            $opts['comment'] = $comment;
+            $opts['comment_warning'] = true;
+        }
+        // ZipDump, GZipDump, BZipDump - check function availability
+        if ($system_path == 'ZipDump' || $system_path == 'GZipDump' || $system_path == 'BZipDump') {
+            $comment = '';
+            $funcs = array(
+                'ZipDump'  => array('zip_open', 'gzcompress'),
+                'GZipDump' => array('gzopen', 'gzencode'),
+                'BZipDump' => array('bzopen', 'bzcompress'));
+            if (!function_exists($funcs[$system_path][0])) {
+                $comment = sprintf(__('import will not work, missing function (%s)'),
+                    $funcs[$system_path][0]);
+            }
+            if (!function_exists($funcs[$system_path][1])) {
+                $comment .= ($comment ? '; ' : '') . sprintf(__('export will not work, missing function (%s)'),
+                    $funcs[$system_path][1]);
+            }
+            $opts['comment'] = $comment;
+            $opts['comment_warning'] = true;
+        }
+        if ($system_path == 'SQLQuery/Validate' && !$GLOBALS['cfg']['SQLValidator']['use']) {
+            $opts['comment'] = __('SQL Validator is disabled');
+            $opts['comment_warning'] = true;
+        }
+        if ($system_path == 'SQLValidator/use') {
+            if (!class_exists('SOAPClient')) {
+                @include_once 'SOAP/Client.php';
+                if (!class_exists('SOAP_Client')) {
+                    $opts['comment'] = __('SOAP extension not found');
+                    $opts['comment_warning'] = true;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        if (!defined('PMA_SETUP') || !PMA_SETUP) {
+            if (($system_path == 'MaxDbList' || $system_path == 'MaxTableList'
+                    || $system_path == 'QueryHistoryMax')) {
+                $opts['comment'] = sprintf(__('maximum %s'), $GLOBALS['cfg'][$system_path]);
+            }
+        }
+    }
 }
 ?>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/libraries/config/FormDisplay.tpl.php b/libraries/config/FormDisplay.tpl.php
index e4a39d4af..f60d6244e 100644
--- a/libraries/config/FormDisplay.tpl.php
+++ b/libraries/config/FormDisplay.tpl.php
@@ -111,6 +111,8 @@ function display_fieldset_top($title = '', $description = '', $errors = null, $a
  * o values - key - value paris for <select> fields
  * o values_escaped - (boolean) tells whether values array is already escaped (defaults to false)
  * o values_disabled -  (array)list of disabled values (keys from values)
+ * o comment - (string) tooltip comment
+ * o comment_warning - (bool) whether this comments warns about something
  * o wiki - (string) wiki link
  *
  * @uses $GLOBALS['_FormDisplayGroup']
@@ -229,6 +231,15 @@ function display_input($path, $name, $description = '', $type, $value, $value_is
                 . '</textarea>';
             break;
     }
+    if (isset($opts['comment']) && $opts['comment']) {
+        $class = 'field-comment-mark';
+        if (isset($opts['comment_warning']) && $opts['comment_warning']) {
+            $class .= ' field-comment-warning';
+        }
+        ?>
+        <span class="<?php echo $class ?>" title="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($opts['comment']) ?>">i</span>
+        <?php
+    }
     if ($is_setup_script && isset($opts['userprefs_comment']) && $opts['userprefs_comment']) {
         ?>
         <a class="userprefs-comment" title="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($opts['userprefs_comment']) ?>"><img alt="comment" src="<?php echo $img_path ?>b_tblops.png" width="16" height="16" /></a>
diff --git a/setup/styles.css b/setup/styles.css
index dbd2639f0..0cadd100b 100644
--- a/setup/styles.css
+++ b/setup/styles.css
@@ -363,6 +363,22 @@ input[type="text"]:focus, select:focus, textarea:focus {
     background: #F7FBFF;
 }
 
+.field-comment {
+
+    position: relative;
+}
+
+.field-comment-mark {
+    cursor: help;
+    padding: 0 0.2em;
+    font-weight: bold;
+    font-style: italic;
+}
+
+.field-comment-warning {
+    color: #A00;
+}
+
 .green { /* default form button */
     color: #080;
 }
diff --git a/themes/darkblue_orange/css/theme_right.css.php b/themes/darkblue_orange/css/theme_right.css.php
index 135d8665d..7c9c09599 100644
--- a/themes/darkblue_orange/css/theme_right.css.php
+++ b/themes/darkblue_orange/css/theme_right.css.php
@@ -1550,6 +1550,19 @@ fieldset .disabled-field td {
     background: #F7FBFF;
 }
 
+.config-form .field-comment-mark {
+    font-family: serif;
+    color: #00A;
+    cursor: help;
+    padding: 0 0.2em;
+    font-weight: bold;
+    font-style: italic;
+}
+
+.config-form .field-comment-warning {
+    color: #A00;
+}
+
 /* error list */
 .config-form dd {
     margin-left: 0.5em;
diff --git a/themes/original/css/theme_right.css.php b/themes/original/css/theme_right.css.php
index 8d46acae4..c40a21933 100644
--- a/themes/original/css/theme_right.css.php
+++ b/themes/original/css/theme_right.css.php
@@ -1482,6 +1482,19 @@ fieldset .disabled-field td {
     background: #F7FBFF;
 }
 
+.config-form .field-comment-mark {
+    font-family: serif;
+    color: #007;
+    cursor: help;
+    padding: 0 0.2em;
+    font-weight: bold;
+    font-style: italic;
+}
+
+.config-form .field-comment-warning {
+    color: #A00;
+}
+
 /* error list */
 .config-form dd {
     margin-left: 0.5em;