diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php b/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
index a067fa6a8..8db725496 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
@@ -179,7 +179,12 @@ class RootPackageLoader extends ArrayLoader
                 return $version;
             }
 
-            return $this->guessHgVersion($config);
+            $version = $this->guessHgVersion($config);
+            if (null !== $version) {
+                return $version;
+            }
+
+            return $this->guessSvnVersion($config);
         }
     }
 
@@ -295,4 +300,29 @@ class RootPackageLoader extends ArrayLoader
 
         return $version;
     }
+
+    private function guessSvnVersion(array $config)
+    {
+        // try to fetch current version from svn
+        if (0 === $this->process->execute('svn info --xml', $output)) {
+            $trunkPath = isset($config['trunk-path']) ? preg_quote($config['trunk-path'], '#') : 'trunk';
+            $branchesPath = isset($config['branches-path']) ? preg_quote($config['branches-path'], '#') : 'branches';
+            $tagsPath = isset($config['tags-path']) ? preg_quote($config['tags-path'], '#') : 'tags';
+
+            $urlPattern = '#<url>.*/('.$trunkPath.'|('.$branchesPath.'|'. $tagsPath .')/(.*))</url>#';
+
+            if (preg_match($urlPattern, $output, $matches)) {
+                if (isset($matches[2]) && $branchesPath === $matches[2]) {
+                    // we are in a branches path
+                    $version = $this->versionParser->normalizeBranch($matches[3]);
+                    if ('9999999-dev' === $version) {
+                        $version = 'dev-'.$matches[3];
+                    }
+                    return $version;
+                }
+
+                return $this->versionParser->normalize(trim($matches[1]));
+            }
+        }
+    }
 }