diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionParser.php b/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionParser.php
index f3bf8984f..1112856a1 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionParser.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionParser.php
@@ -74,7 +74,12 @@ class VersionParser
             return $package->getPrettyVersion();
         }
 
-        return $package->getPrettyVersion() . ' ' . ($truncate ? substr($package->getSourceReference(), 0, 6) : $package->getSourceReference());
+        // if source reference is a sha1 hash -- truncate
+        if ($truncate && strlen($package->getSourceReference()) === 40) {
+            return $package->getPrettyVersion() . ' ' . substr($package->getSourceReference(), 0, 6);
+        }
+
+        return $package->getPrettyVersion() . ' ' . $package->getSourceReference();
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionParserTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionParserTest.php
index 2408320dc..40ed12fd8 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionParserTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionParserTest.php
@@ -15,9 +15,44 @@ namespace Composer\Test\Package\Version;
 use Composer\Package\Version\VersionParser;
 use Composer\Package\LinkConstraint\MultiConstraint;
 use Composer\Package\LinkConstraint\VersionConstraint;
+use Composer\Package\PackageInterface;
 
 class VersionParserTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 {
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider formattedVersions
+     *
+     * @param \Composer\Package\PackageInterface $package
+     * @param string $expected
+     */
+    public function testFormatVersionForDevPackage(PackageInterface $package, $truncate, $expected)
+    {
+        $this->assertSame($expected, VersionParser::formatVersion($package, $truncate));
+    }
+
+    public function formattedVersions()
+    {
+        $data = array(
+            array('sourceReference' => 'v2.1.0-RC2', 'truncate' => true, 'expected' => 'PrettyVersion v2.1.0-RC2'),
+            array('sourceReference' => 'bbf527a27356414bfa9bf520f018c5cb7af67c77', 'truncate' => true, 'expected' => 'PrettyVersion bbf527'),
+            array('sourceReference' => 'v1.0.0', 'truncate' => false, 'expected' => 'PrettyVersion v1.0.0'),
+            array('sourceReference' => 'bbf527a27356414bfa9bf520f018c5cb7af67c77', 'truncate' => false, 'expected' => 'PrettyVersion bbf527a27356414bfa9bf520f018c5cb7af67c77'),
+        );
+
+        $self = $this;
+        $createPackage = function($arr) use ($self) {
+            $package = $self->getMock('\Composer\Package\PackageInterface');
+            $package->expects($self->once())->method('isDev')->will($self->returnValue(true));
+            $package->expects($self->once())->method('getSourceType')->will($self->returnValue('git'));
+            $package->expects($self->once())->method('getPrettyVersion')->will($self->returnValue('PrettyVersion'));
+            $package->expects($self->any())->method('getSourceReference')->will($self->returnValue($arr['sourceReference']));
+
+            return array($package, $arr['truncate'], $arr['expected']);
+        };
+
+        return array_map($createPackage, $data);
+    }
+
     /**
      * @dataProvider successfulNormalizedVersions
      */