diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/serialization/akka-serializer.conf b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/serialization/akka-serializer.conf
index 324adb5c96..d1e948840e 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/serialization/akka-serializer.conf
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/serialization/akka-serializer.conf
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ akka {
       default = "akka.serialization.JavaSerializer"
     }
 
-    bindings {
+    serialization-bindings {
       java = ["akka.serialization.SerializeSpec$Address", "akka.serialization.MyJavaSerializableActor", "akka.serialization.MyStatelessActorWithMessagesInMailbox", "akka.serialization.MyActorWithProtobufMessagesInMailbox"]
       sjson = ["akka.serialization.SerializeSpec$Person"]
       proto = ["com.google.protobuf.Message", "akka.actor.ProtobufProtocol$MyMessage"]
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/config/Config.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/config/Config.scala
index d1f8412d1a..1dc2fa4cf2 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/config/Config.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/config/Config.scala
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ object Config {
 
   val serializers = config.getSection("akka.actor.serializers").map(_.map).getOrElse(Map("default" -> "akka.serialization.JavaSerializer"))
 
-  val bindings = config.getSection("akka.actor.bindings")
+  val bindings = config.getSection("akka.actor.serialization-bindings")
     .map(_.map)
     .map(m ⇒ Map() ++ m.map { case (k, v: List[String]) ⇒ Map() ++ v.map((_, k)) }.flatten)
 
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/zookeeper/AkkaZkClient.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/zookeeper/AkkaZkClient.scala
index a30fc41932..dfa8ed8be8 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/zookeeper/AkkaZkClient.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/zookeeper/AkkaZkClient.scala
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import org.I0Itec.zkclient._
 import org.I0Itec.zkclient.serialize._
 import org.I0Itec.zkclient.exception._
 
-import akka.event.EventHandler
+//import akka.event.EventHandler
 
 /**
  * ZooKeeper client. Holds the ZooKeeper connection and manages its session.
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class AkkaZkClient(zkServers: String,
                    zkSerializer: ZkSerializer = new SerializableSerializer)
   extends ZkClient(zkServers, sessionTimeout, connectionTimeout, zkSerializer) {
 
-  EventHandler.debug(this, "Connecting to ZooKeeper ensamble [%s]" format zkServers)
+  //  EventHandler.debug(this, "Connecting to ZooKeeper ensamble [%s]" format zkServers)
 
   def connection: ZkConnection = _connection.asInstanceOf[ZkConnection]
 
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/serialization/Serializer.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/serialization/Serializer.scala
deleted file mode 100644
index 7ac3eea2df..0000000000
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/serialization/Serializer.scala
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-package akka.serialization
-
-/**
- * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Scalable Solutions AB <http://scalablesolutions.se>
- */
-
-import java.io.{ ObjectOutputStream, ByteArrayOutputStream, ObjectInputStream, ByteArrayInputStream }
-import akka.util.ClassLoaderObjectInputStream
-import akka.actor.ActorRef
-
-trait Serializer extends scala.Serializable {
-  def toBinary(o: AnyRef): Array[Byte]
-  def fromBinary(bytes: Array[Byte], clazz: Option[Class[_]] = None, classLoader: Option[ClassLoader] = None): AnyRef
-}
-
-class JavaSerializer extends Serializer {
-  def toBinary(o: AnyRef): Array[Byte] = {
-    val bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream
-    val out = new ObjectOutputStream(bos)
-    out.writeObject(o)
-    out.close()
-    bos.toByteArray
-  }
-
-  def fromBinary(bytes: Array[Byte], clazz: Option[Class[_]] = None,
-                 classLoader: Option[ClassLoader] = None): AnyRef = {
-    val in =
-      if (classLoader.isDefined) new ClassLoaderObjectInputStream(classLoader.get, new ByteArrayInputStream(bytes)) else
-        new ObjectInputStream(new ByteArrayInputStream(bytes))
-    val obj = in.readObject
-    in.close()
-    obj
-  }
-}
-
-object JavaSerializer extends JavaSerializer
-object Serializer {
-  val defaultSerializerName = JavaSerializer.getClass.getName
-}
diff --git a/config/akka-reference.conf b/config/akka-reference.conf
index edd36f3c92..85a14d243c 100644
--- a/config/akka-reference.conf
+++ b/config/akka-reference.conf
@@ -137,6 +137,26 @@ akka {
         message-time-to-live = 120
       }
     }
+
+    # Entries for pluggable serializers and their bindings. If a binding for a specific class is not found,
+    # then the default serializer (Java serialization) is used.
+    #
+    # serializers {
+    #   java = "akka.serialization.JavaSerializer"
+    #   proto = "akka.testing.ProtobufSerializer"
+    #   sjson = "akka.testing.SJSONSerializer"
+    #   default = "akka.serialization.JavaSerializer"
+    # }
+
+    # serialization-bindings {
+    #   java = ["akka.serialization.SerializeSpec$Address",
+    #           "akka.serialization.MyJavaSerializableActor",
+    #           "akka.serialization.MyStatelessActorWithMessagesInMailbox",
+    #           "akka.serialization.MyActorWithProtobufMessagesInMailbox"]
+    #   sjson = ["akka.serialization.SerializeSpec$Person"]
+    #   proto = ["com.google.protobuf.Message",
+    #            "akka.actor.ProtobufProtocol$MyMessage"]
+    # }
   }
 
   cluster {