diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php b/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
index 87769066f..09ce4484a 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
@@ -188,6 +188,11 @@ class RootPackageLoader extends ArrayLoader
         $util = new GitUtil;
         $util->cleanEnv();
 
+        // try to fetch current version from git tags
+        if (0 === $this->process->execute('git describe --exact-match --tags', $output)) {
+            return $this->versionParser->normalize(trim($output));
+        }
+
         // try to fetch current version from git branch
         if (0 === $this->process->execute('git branch --no-color --no-abbrev -v', $output)) {
             $branches = array();
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoaderTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoaderTest.php
index e1a8781a1..b6e904f1f 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoaderTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoaderTest.php
@@ -36,6 +36,11 @@ class RootPackageLoaderTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 
         /* Can do away with this mock object when https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit-mock-objects/issues/81 is fixed */
         $processExecutor = new ProcessExecutorMock(function($command, &$output = null, $cwd = null) use ($self, $commitHash) {
+            if (0 === strpos($command, 'git describe')) {
+                // simulate not being on a tag
+                return 1;
+            }
+
             $self->assertStringStartsWith('git branch', $command);
 
             $output = "* (no branch) $commitHash Commit message\n";
@@ -51,6 +56,35 @@ class RootPackageLoaderTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
         $this->assertEquals("dev-$commitHash", $package->getVersion());
     }
 
+    public function testTagBecomesVersion()
+    {
+        if (!function_exists('proc_open')) {
+            $this->markTestSkipped('proc_open() is not available');
+        }
+
+        $manager = $this->getMockBuilder('\\Composer\\Repository\\RepositoryManager')
+            ->disableOriginalConstructor()
+            ->getMock();
+
+        $self = $this;
+
+        /* Can do away with this mock object when https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit-mock-objects/issues/81 is fixed */
+        $processExecutor = new ProcessExecutorMock(function($command, &$output = null, $cwd = null) use ($self) {
+            $self->assertEquals('git describe --exact-match --tags', $command);
+
+            $output = "v2.0.5-alpha2";
+
+            return 0;
+        });
+
+        $config = new Config;
+        $config->merge(array('repositories' => array('packagist' => false)));
+        $loader = new RootPackageLoader($manager, $config, null, $processExecutor);
+        $package = $loader->load(array());
+
+        $this->assertEquals("2.0.5.0-alpha2", $package->getVersion());
+    }
+
     protected function loadPackage($data)
     {
         $manager = $this->getMockBuilder('\\Composer\\Repository\\RepositoryManager')