diff --git a/doc/05-repositories.md b/doc/05-repositories.md
index cd3266285..4c1c7e000 100644
--- a/doc/05-repositories.md
+++ b/doc/05-repositories.md
@@ -658,14 +658,23 @@ the branch or tag that is currently checked out. Otherwise, the version should
 be explicitly defined in the package's `composer.json` file. If the version
 cannot be resolved by these means, it is assumed to be `dev-master`.
 
-When the version cannot be inferred from the local VCS repository, you should use
-the special `branch-version` entry under `extra` instead of `version`:
+When the version cannot be inferred from the local VCS repository, or when you
+want to override the version, you can use the `versions` option when declaring
+the repository:
 
 ```json
 {
-    "extra": {
-        "branch-version": "4.2-dev"
-    }
+    "repositories": [
+        {
+            "type": "path",
+            "url": "../../packages/my-package",
+            "options": {
+                "versions": {
+                    "my/package": "4.2-dev"
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    ]
 }
 ```
 
diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php b/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
index 5eceec97d..32118b113 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
@@ -81,10 +81,8 @@ class RootPackageLoader extends ArrayLoader
         if (!isset($config['version'])) {
             $commit = null;
 
-            if (isset($config['extra']['branch-version'])) {
-                $config['version'] = preg_replace('{(\.x)?(-dev)?$}', '', $config['extra']['branch-version']).'.x-dev';
-            } elseif (getenv('COMPOSER_ROOT_VERSION')) {
-                // override with env var if available
+            // override with env var if available
+            if (getenv('COMPOSER_ROOT_VERSION')) {
                 $config['version'] = getenv('COMPOSER_ROOT_VERSION');
             } else {
                 $versionData = $this->versionGuesser->guessVersion($config, $cwd ?: getcwd());
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/PathRepository.php b/src/Composer/Repository/PathRepository.php
index c3076e2e7..b6601f883 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/PathRepository.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/PathRepository.php
@@ -164,10 +164,11 @@ class PathRepository extends ArrayRepository implements ConfigurableRepositoryIn
                 'reference' => sha1($json . serialize($this->options)),
             );
             $package['transport-options'] = $this->options;
+            unset($package['transport-options']['versions']);
 
-            // use the branch-version as the package version if available
-            if (!isset($package['version']) && isset($package['extra']['branch-version'])) {
-                $package['version'] = preg_replace('{(\.x)?(-dev)?$}', '', $package['extra']['branch-version']).'.x-dev';
+            // use the version provided as option if available
+            if (isset($package['name'], $this->options['versions'][$package['name']])) {
+                $package['version'] = $this->options['versions'][$package['name']];
             }
 
             // carry over the root package version if this path repo is in the same git repository as root package
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoaderTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoaderTest.php
index c50cc77e0..858e95231 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoaderTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoaderTest.php
@@ -201,28 +201,4 @@ class RootPackageLoaderTest extends TestCase
 
         $this->assertEquals("dev-latest-production", $package->getPrettyVersion());
     }
-
-    /**
-     * @dataProvider provideExtraBranchVersion
-     */
-    public function testLoadExtraBranchVersion($branchVersion)
-    {
-        $package = $this->loadPackage(array(
-            'extra' => array(
-                'branch-version' => $branchVersion,
-            ),
-        ));
-
-        $this->assertEquals('1.2.x-dev', $package->getPrettyVersion());
-    }
-
-    public function provideExtraBranchVersion()
-    {
-        return array(
-            array('1.2'),
-            array('1.2.x'),
-            array('1.2-dev'),
-            array('1.2.x-dev'),
-        );
-    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/Fixtures/path/with-branch-version/composer.json b/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/Fixtures/path/with-branch-version/composer.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 75545d5f9..000000000
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/Fixtures/path/with-branch-version/composer.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "name": "test/path-branch-versioned",
-  "extra": {
-    "branch-version": "1.2"
-  }
-}
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/PathRepositoryTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/PathRepositoryTest.php
index 628c3320d..f2c8a9192 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/PathRepositoryTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/PathRepositoryTest.php
@@ -72,23 +72,6 @@ class PathRepositoryTest extends TestCase
         $this->assertNotEmpty($packageVersion);
     }
 
-    public function testLoadPackageFromFileSystemWithExtraBranchVersion()
-    {
-        $ioInterface = $this->getMockBuilder('Composer\IO\IOInterface')
-            ->getMock();
-
-        $config = new \Composer\Config();
-        $versionGuesser = null;
-
-        $repositoryUrl = implode(DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR, array(__DIR__, 'Fixtures', 'path', 'with-branch-version'));
-        $repository = new PathRepository(array('url' => $repositoryUrl), $ioInterface, $config);
-        $packages = $repository->getPackages();
-
-        $this->assertEquals(1, $repository->count());
-
-        $this->assertTrue($repository->hasPackage($this->getPackage('test/path-branch-versioned', '1.2.x-dev')));
-    }
-
     public function testLoadPackageFromFileSystemWithWildcard()
     {
         $ioInterface = $this->getMockBuilder('Composer\IO\IOInterface')
@@ -102,7 +85,7 @@ class PathRepositoryTest extends TestCase
         $packages = $repository->getPackages();
         $names = array();
 
-        $this->assertEquals(3, $repository->count());
+        $this->assertEquals(2, $repository->count());
 
         $package = $packages[0];
         $names[] = $package->getName();
@@ -110,11 +93,39 @@ class PathRepositoryTest extends TestCase
         $package = $packages[1];
         $names[] = $package->getName();
 
-        $package = $packages[2];
-        $names[] = $package->getName();
-
         sort($names);
-        $this->assertEquals(array('test/path-branch-versioned', 'test/path-unversioned', 'test/path-versioned'), $names);
+        $this->assertEquals(array('test/path-unversioned', 'test/path-versioned'), $names);
+    }
+
+    public function testLoadPackageWithExplicitVersions()
+    {
+        $ioInterface = $this->getMockBuilder('Composer\IO\IOInterface')
+            ->getMock();
+
+        $config = new \Composer\Config();
+        $versionGuesser = null;
+
+        $options = array(
+            'versions' => array(
+                'test/path-unversioned' => '4.3.2.1',
+                'test/path-versioned' => '3.2.1.0',
+            ),
+        );
+        $repositoryUrl = implode(DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR, array(__DIR__, 'Fixtures', 'path', '*'));
+        $repository = new PathRepository(array('url' => $repositoryUrl, 'options' => $options), $ioInterface, $config);
+        $packages = $repository->getPackages();
+        $versions = array();
+
+        $this->assertEquals(2, $repository->count());
+
+        $package = $packages[0];
+        $versions[$package->getName()] = $package->getVersion();
+
+        $package = $packages[1];
+        $versions[$package->getName()] = $package->getVersion();
+
+        ksort($versions);
+        $this->assertSame(array('test/path-unversioned' => '4.3.2.1', 'test/path-versioned' => '3.2.1.0'), $versions);
     }
 
     /**