diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/SelfUpdateCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/SelfUpdateCommand.php
index 4074d8bad..598be7431 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/SelfUpdateCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/SelfUpdateCommand.php
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ use Composer\Factory;
 use Composer\Util\RemoteFilesystem;
 use Composer\Downloader\FilesystemException;
 use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputInterface;
+use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputOption;
 use Symfony\Component\Console\Output\OutputInterface;
 
 /**
@@ -24,12 +25,32 @@ use Symfony\Component\Console\Output\OutputInterface;
  */
 class SelfUpdateCommand extends Command
 {
+    const ROLLBACK = 'rollback';
+    const HOMEPAGE = 'getcomposer.org';
+
+    protected $remoteFS;
+    protected $latestVersion;
+    protected $homepageURL;
+    protected $localFilename;
+
+    public function __construct($name = null)
+    {
+        parent::__construct($name);
+        $protocol = (extension_loaded('openssl') ? 'https' : 'http') . '://';
+        $this->homepageURL = $protocol . self::HOMEPAGE;
+        $this->remoteFS = new RemoteFilesystem($this->getIO());
+        $this->localFilename = realpath($_SERVER['argv'][0]) ?: $_SERVER['argv'][0];
+    }
+
     protected function configure()
     {
         $this
             ->setName('self-update')
             ->setAliases(array('selfupdate'))
             ->setDescription('Updates composer.phar to the latest version.')
+            ->setDefinition(array(
+                new InputOption(self::ROLLBACK, 'r', InputOption::VALUE_OPTIONAL, 'Revert to an older installation of composer'),
+            ))
             ->setHelp(<<<EOT
 The <info>self-update</info> command checks getcomposer.org for newer
 versions of composer and if found, installs the latest.
@@ -44,57 +65,126 @@ EOT
     protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output)
     {
         $config = Factory::createConfig();
-        $cacheDir = $config->get('cache-dir');
-
-        $localFilename = realpath($_SERVER['argv'][0]) ?: $_SERVER['argv'][0];
+        $cacheDir = rtrim($config->get('cache-dir'), '/');
+        $saveDir = rtrim($config->get('home'), '/');
 
         // Check if current dir is writable and if not try the cache dir from settings
-        $tmpDir = is_writable(dirname($localFilename))? dirname($localFilename) : $cacheDir;
-        $tempFilename = $tmpDir . '/' . basename($localFilename, '.phar').'-temp.phar';
+        $tmpDir = is_writable(dirname($this->localFilename))? dirname($this->localFilename) : $cacheDir;
 
         // check for permissions in local filesystem before start connection process
         if (!is_writable($tmpDir)) {
             throw new FilesystemException('Composer update failed: the "'.$tmpDir.'" directory used to download the temp file could not be written');
         }
 
-        if (!is_writable($localFilename)) {
-            throw new FilesystemException('Composer update failed: the "'.$localFilename. '" file could not be written');
+        if (!is_writable($this->localFilename)) {
+            throw new FilesystemException('Composer update failed: the "'.$this->localFilename.'" file could not be written');
         }
 
-        $protocol = extension_loaded('openssl') ? 'https' : 'http';
-        $rfs = new RemoteFilesystem($this->getIO());
-        $latest = trim($rfs->getContents('getcomposer.org', $protocol . '://getcomposer.org/version', false));
+        $rollback = $this->getOption(self::ROLLBACK);
 
-        if (Composer::VERSION !== $latest) {
-            $output->writeln(sprintf("Updating to version <info>%s</info>.", $latest));
+        if (is_null($rollback)) {
+            $rollback = $this->getLastVersion();
+            if (!$rollback) {
+                throw new FilesystemException('Composer rollback failed: no installation to roll back to in "'.$saveDir.'"');
 
-            $remoteFilename = $protocol . '://getcomposer.org/composer.phar';
+                return 1;
+            }
+        }
 
-            $rfs->copy('getcomposer.org', $remoteFilename, $tempFilename);
+        // if a rollback version is specified, check for permissions and rollback installation
+        if ($rollback) {
+            if (!is_writable($saveDir)) {
+                throw new FilesystemException('Composer rollback failed: the "'.$saveDir.'" dir could not be written to');
+            }
 
+            $old = $saveDir . "/{$rollback}.phar";
+
+            if (!is_file($old)) {
+                throw new FilesystemException('Composer rollback failed: "'.$old.'" could not be found');
+            }
+            if (!is_readable($old)) {
+                throw new FilesystemException('Composer rollback failed: "'.$old.'" could not be read');
+            }
+        }
+
+        $updateVersion = ($rollback)? $rollback : $this->getLatestVersion();
+
+        if (Composer::VERSION === $updateVersion) {
+            $output->writeln("<info>You are already using composer v%s.</info>", $updateVersion);
+
+            return 0;
+        }
+
+        $tempFilename = $tmpDir . '/' . basename($this->localFilename, '.phar').'-temp.phar';
+
+        if ($rollback) {
+            copy($saveDir . "/{$rollback}.phar", $tempFilename);
+        } else {
+            $endpoint = ($updateVersion === $this->getLatestVersion()) ? '/composer.phar' : "/download/{$updateVersion}/composer.phar";
+            $remoteFilename = $this->homepageURL . $endpoint;
+
+            $output->writeln(sprintf("Updating to version <info>%s</info>.", $updateVersion));
+
+            $this->remoteFS->copy(self::HOMEPAGE, $remoteFilename, $tempFilename);
+
+            // @todo: handle snapshot versions not being found!
             if (!file_exists($tempFilename)) {
                 $output->writeln('<error>The download of the new composer version failed for an unexpected reason');
 
                 return 1;
             }
+        }
 
-            try {
-                @chmod($tempFilename, 0777 & ~umask());
-                // test the phar validity
-                $phar = new \Phar($tempFilename);
-                // free the variable to unlock the file
-                unset($phar);
-                rename($tempFilename, $localFilename);
-            } catch (\Exception $e) {
-                @unlink($tempFilename);
-                if (!$e instanceof \UnexpectedValueException && !$e instanceof \PharException) {
-                    throw $e;
-                }
-                $output->writeln('<error>The download is corrupted ('.$e->getMessage().').</error>');
-                $output->writeln('<error>Please re-run the self-update command to try again.</error>');
-            }
-        } else {
-            $output->writeln("<info>You are using the latest composer version.</info>");
+        if ($err = $this->setLocalPhar($tempFilename, $saveDir)) {
+            $output->writeln('<error>The file is corrupted ('.$err->getMessage().').</error>');
+            $output->writeln('<error>Please re-run the self-update command to try again.</error>');
+
+            return 1;
         }
     }
+
+    protected function setLocalPhar($filename, $saveDir)
+    {
+        try {
+            @chmod($filename, 0777 & ~umask());
+            // test the phar validity
+            $phar = new \Phar($filename);
+            // copy current file into installations dir
+            copy($this->localFilename, $saveDir . Composer::VERSION . '.phar');
+            // free the variable to unlock the file
+            unset($phar);
+            rename($filename, $this->localFilename);
+        } catch (\Exception $e) {
+            @unlink($filename);
+            if (!$e instanceof \UnexpectedValueException && !$e instanceof \PharException) {
+                throw $e;
+            }
+
+            return $e;
+        }
+    }
+
+    protected function getLastVersion($saveDir)
+    {
+        $config = Factory::createConfig();
+        $files = glob($saveDir . '/*.phar');
+
+        if (empty($files)) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        $fileTimes = array_map('filemtime', $files);
+        $map = array_combine($fileTimes, $files);
+        $latest = max($fileTimes);
+        return basename($map[$latest], '.phar');
+    }
+
+    protected function getLatestVersion()
+    {
+        if (!$this->latestVersion) {
+            $this->latestVersion = trim($this->remoteFS->getContents(self::HOMEPAGE, $this->homepageURL. '/version', false));
+        }
+
+        return $this->latestVersion;
+    }
 }