diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionGuesser.php b/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionGuesser.php
index b42fb6274..d3f78e5c0 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionGuesser.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionGuesser.php
@@ -154,8 +154,17 @@ class VersionGuesser
             if ($isFeatureBranch) {
                 $featureVersion = $version;
                 $featurePrettyVersion = $prettyVersion;
+
+                // try to find name of default branch from git info
+                $defaultBranch = null;
+                if (0 === $this->process->execute('git remote show origin', $output) || 0 === $this->process->execute('git remote show upstream', $output)) {
+                    if (preg_match('{^  HEAD branch: (.+)$}m', $output, $match)) {
+                        $defaultBranch = trim($match[1]);
+                    }
+                }
+
                 // try to find the best (nearest) version branch to assume this feature's version
-                $result = $this->guessFeatureVersion($packageConfig, $version, $branches, 'git rev-list %candidate%..%branch%', $path);
+                $result = $this->guessFeatureVersion($packageConfig, $version, $branches, 'git rev-list %candidate%..%branch%', $path, $defaultBranch);
                 $version = $result['version'];
                 $prettyVersion = $result['pretty_version'];
             }
@@ -222,7 +231,7 @@ class VersionGuesser
             $branches = array_keys($driver->getBranches());
 
             // try to find the best (nearest) version branch to assume this feature's version
-            $result = $this->guessFeatureVersion($packageConfig, $version, $branches, 'hg log -r "not ancestors(\'%candidate%\') and ancestors(\'%branch%\')" --template "{node}\\n"', $path);
+            $result = $this->guessFeatureVersion($packageConfig, $version, $branches, 'hg log -r "not ancestors(\'%candidate%\') and ancestors(\'%branch%\')" --template "{node}\\n"', $path, 'default');
             $result['commit'] = '';
             $result['feature_version'] = $version;
             $result['feature_pretty_version'] = $version;
@@ -231,7 +240,7 @@ class VersionGuesser
         }
     }
 
-    private function guessFeatureVersion(array $packageConfig, $version, array $branches, $scmCmdline, $path)
+    private function guessFeatureVersion(array $packageConfig, $version, array $branches, $scmCmdline, $path, $defaultBranch)
     {
         $prettyVersion = $version;
 
@@ -248,14 +257,14 @@ class VersionGuesser
                 $nonFeatureBranches = implode('|', $packageConfig['non-feature-branches']);
             }
 
-            foreach ($branches as $candidate) {
-                // return directly, if branch is configured to be non-feature branch
-                if ($candidate === $branch && preg_match('{^(' . $nonFeatureBranches . ')$}', $candidate)) {
-                    break;
-                }
+            // return directly, if branch is configured to be non-feature branch
+            if (preg_match('{^(' . $nonFeatureBranches . ')$}', $branch)) {
+                return array('version' => $version, 'pretty_version' => $prettyVersion);
+            }
 
+            foreach ($branches as $candidate) {
                 // do not compare against itself or other feature branches
-                if ($candidate === $branch || !preg_match('{^(' . $nonFeatureBranches . '|master|trunk|default|develop|\d+\..+)$}', $candidate, $match)) {
+                if ($candidate === $branch || !preg_match('{^(' . $nonFeatureBranches . ($defaultBranch ? '|'.preg_quote($defaultBranch) : '').'|master|trunk|default|develop|\d+\..+)$}', $candidate, $match)) {
                     continue;
                 }
 
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionGuesserTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionGuesserTest.php
index 29619ea45..0b7486afd 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionGuesserTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionGuesserTest.php
@@ -135,6 +135,64 @@ class VersionGuesserTest extends TestCase
         $this->assertEquals($commitHash, $versionArray['commit']);
     }
 
+    public function testGuessVersionReadsAndRespectsDefaultBranchAsNonFeatureBranch()
+    {
+        $commitHash = '03a15d220da53c52eddd5f32ffca64a7b3801bea';
+        $anotherCommitHash = '13a15d220da53c52eddd5f32ffca64a7b3801bea';
+
+        $executor = $this->getMockBuilder('\\Composer\\Util\\ProcessExecutor')
+            ->setMethods(array('execute'))
+            ->disableArgumentCloning()
+            ->disableOriginalConstructor()
+            ->getMock()
+        ;
+
+        $self = $this;
+
+        $executor
+            ->expects($this->at(0))
+            ->method('execute')
+            ->willReturnCallback(function ($command, &$output) use ($self, $commitHash, $anotherCommitHash) {
+                $self->assertEquals('git branch --no-color --no-abbrev -v', $command);
+                $output = "  arbitrary $commitHash Commit message\n* current $anotherCommitHash Another message\n";
+
+                return 0;
+            })
+        ;
+
+        $executor
+            ->expects($this->at(1))
+            ->method('execute')
+            ->willReturnCallback(function ($command, &$output) use ($self) {
+                $self->assertEquals('git remote show origin', $command);
+                $output = "  HEAD branch: arbitrary\r\n";
+
+                return 0;
+            })
+        ;
+
+        $executor
+            ->expects($this->at(2))
+            ->method('execute')
+            ->willReturnCallback(function ($command, &$output, $path) use ($self, $anotherCommitHash) {
+                $self->assertEquals('git rev-list arbitrary..current', $command);
+                $output = "$anotherCommitHash\n";
+
+                return 0;
+            })
+        ;
+
+        $config = new Config;
+        $config->merge(array('repositories' => array('packagist' => false)));
+        $guesser = new VersionGuesser($config, $executor, new VersionParser());
+        $versionArray = $guesser->guessVersion(array('version' => 'self.version'), 'dummy/path');
+
+        $this->assertEquals("dev-arbitrary", $versionArray['version']);
+        $this->assertEquals($anotherCommitHash, $versionArray['commit']);
+        $this->assertEquals("dev-current", $versionArray['feature_version']);
+        $this->assertEquals("dev-current", $versionArray['feature_pretty_version']);
+    }
+
     public function testGuessVersionReadsAndRespectsNonFeatureBranchesConfigurationForArbitraryNaming()
     {
         $commitHash = '03a15d220da53c52eddd5f32ffca64a7b3801bea';
@@ -163,6 +221,17 @@ class VersionGuesserTest extends TestCase
         $executor
             ->expects($this->at(1))
             ->method('execute')
+            ->willReturnCallback(function ($command, &$output) use ($self) {
+                $self->assertEquals('git remote show origin', $command);
+                $output = "  HEAD branch: foo\r\n";
+
+                return 0;
+            })
+        ;
+
+        $executor
+            ->expects($this->at(2))
+            ->method('execute')
             ->willReturnCallback(function ($command, &$output, $path) use ($self, $anotherCommitHash) {
                 $self->assertEquals('git rev-list arbitrary..current', $command);
                 $output = "$anotherCommitHash\n";
@@ -206,10 +275,19 @@ class VersionGuesserTest extends TestCase
                 return 0;
             })
         ;
-
         $executor
             ->expects($this->at(1))
             ->method('execute')
+            ->willReturnCallback(function ($command, &$output) use ($self) {
+                $self->assertEquals('git remote show origin', $command);
+                $output = "  HEAD branch: foo\r\n";
+
+                return 0;
+            })
+        ;
+        $executor
+            ->expects($this->at(2))
+            ->method('execute')
             ->willReturnCallback(function ($command, &$output, $path) use ($self, $anotherCommitHash) {
                 $self->assertEquals('git rev-list latest-testing..current', $command);
                 $output = "$anotherCommitHash\n";
@@ -378,10 +456,19 @@ class VersionGuesserTest extends TestCase
                 return 0;
             })
         ;
-
         $executor
             ->expects($this->at(1))
             ->method('execute')
+            ->willReturnCallback(function ($command, &$output) use ($self) {
+                $self->assertEquals('git remote show origin', $command);
+                $output = "  HEAD branch: foo\r\n";
+
+                return 0;
+            })
+        ;
+        $executor
+            ->expects($this->at(2))
+            ->method('execute')
             ->willReturnCallback(function ($command, &$output) use ($self) {
                 $self->assertEquals('git describe --exact-match --tags', $command);
                 $output = "v2.0.5-alpha2";
@@ -419,10 +506,19 @@ class VersionGuesserTest extends TestCase
                 return 0;
             })
         ;
-
         $executor
             ->expects($this->at(1))
             ->method('execute')
+            ->willReturnCallback(function ($command, &$output) use ($self) {
+                $self->assertEquals('git remote show origin', $command);
+                $output = "  HEAD branch: foo\r\n";
+
+                return 0;
+            })
+        ;
+        $executor
+            ->expects($this->at(2))
+            ->method('execute')
             ->willReturnCallback(function ($command, &$output) use ($self) {
                 $self->assertEquals('git describe --exact-match --tags', $command);
                 $output = '1.0.0';