diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/AliasPackage.php b/src/Composer/Package/AliasPackage.php
index cb40486aa..1b6481d8e 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/AliasPackage.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/AliasPackage.php
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ use Composer\Package\LinkConstraint\LinkConstraintInterface;
 use Composer\Package\LinkConstraint\VersionConstraint;
 use Composer\Repository\RepositoryInterface;
 use Composer\Repository\PlatformRepository;
+use Composer\Package\Version\VersionParser;
 
 /**
  * @author Jordi Boggiano <j.boggiano@seld.be>
@@ -41,14 +42,14 @@ class AliasPackage extends BasePackage
      * @param string $version The version the alias must report
      * @param string $prettyVersion The alias's non-normalized version
      */
-    public function __construct($aliasOf, $version, $prettyVersion)
+    public function __construct(PackageInterface $aliasOf, $version, $prettyVersion)
     {
         parent::__construct($aliasOf->getName());
 
         $this->version = $version;
         $this->prettyVersion = $prettyVersion;
         $this->aliasOf = $aliasOf;
-        $this->dev = 'dev-' === substr($version, 0, 4) || '-dev' === substr($version, -4);
+        $this->dev = VersionParser::isDev($version);
 
         // replace self.version dependencies
         foreach (array('requires', 'recommends', 'suggests') as $type) {
diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/MemoryPackage.php b/src/Composer/Package/MemoryPackage.php
index e266f754c..2c3502502 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/MemoryPackage.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/MemoryPackage.php
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 
 namespace Composer\Package;
 
+use Composer\Package\Version\VersionParser;
+
 /**
  * A package with setters for all members to create it dynamically in memory
  *
@@ -69,7 +71,7 @@ class MemoryPackage extends BasePackage
         $this->version = $version;
         $this->prettyVersion = $prettyVersion;
 
-        $this->dev = 'dev-' === substr($version, 0, 4) || '-dev' === substr($version, -4);
+        $this->dev = VersionParser::isDev($version);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionParser.php b/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionParser.php
index 19cd240a8..763929613 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionParser.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/Version/VersionParser.php
@@ -24,6 +24,17 @@ class VersionParser
 {
     private $modifierRegex = '[.-]?(?:(beta|RC|alpha|patch|pl|p)(?:[.-]?(\d+))?)?([.-]?dev)?';
 
+    /**
+     * Checks if a version is dev or not
+     *
+     * @param string $version
+     * @return Boolean
+     */
+    static public function isDev($version)
+    {
+        return 'dev-' === substr($version, 0, 4) || '-dev' === substr($version, -4);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Normalizes a version string to be able to perform comparisons on it
      *
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionParserTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionParserTest.php
index f45d0a0dc..c33bb2860 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionParserTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Version/VersionParserTest.php
@@ -187,4 +187,23 @@ class VersionParserTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
             'invalid version'   => array('1.0.0-meh'),
         );
     }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider dataIsDev
+     */
+    public function testIsDev($expected, $version)
+    {
+        $this->assertSame($expected, VersionParser::isDev($version));
+    }
+
+    public function dataIsDev()
+    {
+        return array(
+            array(false, '1.0'),
+            array(false, 'v2.0.*'),
+            array(false, '3.0dev'),
+            array(true, 'dev-master'),
+            array(true, '3.1.2-dev'),
+        );
+    }
 }