diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/ArchiveCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/ArchiveCommand.php
index d7e627b34..34f6fe8a6 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/ArchiveCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/ArchiveCommand.php
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ use Composer\DependencyResolver\Pool;
 use Composer\Package\LinkConstraint\VersionConstraint;
 use Composer\Repository\CompositeRepository;
 use Composer\Script\ScriptEvents;
+use Composer\Plugin\CommandEvent;
+use Composer\Plugin\PluginEvents;
+use Composer\Package\Version\VersionParser;
 
 use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputArgument;
 use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputInterface;
@@ -38,7 +41,7 @@ class ArchiveCommand extends Command
             ->setDescription('Create an archive of this composer package')
             ->setDefinition(array(
                 new InputArgument('package', InputArgument::OPTIONAL, 'The package to archive instead of the current project'),
-                new InputArgument('version', InputArgument::OPTIONAL, 'The package version to archive'),
+                new InputArgument('version', InputArgument::OPTIONAL, 'A version constraint to find the package to archive'),
                 new InputOption('format', 'f', InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED, 'Format of the resulting archive: tar or zip', 'tar'),
                 new InputOption('dir', false, InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED, 'Write the archive to this directory', '.'),
             ))
@@ -56,7 +59,12 @@ EOT
 
     protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output)
     {
-        $this->getComposer()->getEventDispatcher()->dispatchScript(ScriptEvents::PRE_ARCHIVE_CMD);
+        $composer = $this->getComposer(false);
+        if ($composer) {
+            $commandEvent = new CommandEvent(PluginEvents::COMMAND, 'archive', $input, $output);
+            $composer->getEventDispatcher()->dispatch($commandEvent->getName(), $commandEvent);
+            $composer->getEventDispatcher()->dispatchScript(ScriptEvents::PRE_ARCHIVE_CMD);
+        }
 
         $returnCode = $this->archive(
             $this->getIO(),
@@ -66,8 +74,8 @@ EOT
             $input->getOption('dir')
         );
 
-        if (0 === $returnCode) {
-            $this->getComposer()->getEventDispatcher()->dispatchScript(ScriptEvents::POST_ARCHIVE_CMD);
+        if (0 === $returnCode && $composer) {
+            $composer->getEventDispatcher()->dispatchScript(ScriptEvents::POST_ARCHIVE_CMD);
         }
 
         return $returnCode;
@@ -112,16 +120,17 @@ EOT
         $pool = new Pool();
         $pool->addRepository($repos);
 
-        $constraint = ($version) ? new VersionConstraint('>=', $version) : null;
-        $packages = $pool->whatProvides($packageName, $constraint);
+        $parser = new VersionParser();
+        $constraint = ($version) ? $parser->parseConstraints($version) : null;
+        $packages = $pool->whatProvides($packageName, $constraint, true);
 
         if (count($packages) > 1) {
-            $package = $packages[0];
+            $package = reset($packages);
             $io->write('<info>Found multiple matches, selected '.$package->getPrettyString().'.</info>');
             $io->write('Alternatives were '.implode(', ', array_map(function ($p) { return $p->getPrettyString(); }, $packages)).'.');
             $io->write('<comment>Please use a more specific constraint to pick a different package.</comment>');
         } elseif ($packages) {
-            $package = $packages[0];
+            $package = reset($packages);
             $io->write('<info>Found an exact match '.$package->getPrettyString().'.</info>');
         } else {
             $io->write('<error>Could not find a package matching '.$packageName.'.</error>');