This method is called only in https://github.com/jbosstools/jbosstools-openshift/pull/295/files#diff-b8e4c108ed2cc4e34aa2f04aeea788fbR34. Which means right after time-out is set through preferences page everything is going to work as expected. I could not find other places where System.setProperty(IHttpClient.SYSPROP_OPENSHIFT_READ_TIMEOUT, <valueFromPreferences>) is called. Does it supposed to work after eclipse restart?