diff --git a/bin/composer b/bin/composer
index 823f87a4b..88566e170 100755
--- a/bin/composer
+++ b/bin/composer
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ if (function_exists('ini_set')) {
     unset($memoryInBytes, $memoryLimit);
 }
 
+putenv('COMPOSER_BINARY='.realpath($_SERVER['argv'][0]));
+
 // run the command application
 $application = new Application();
 $application->run(null, $output);
diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/CreateProjectCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/CreateProjectCommand.php
index 796dbdeb9..4e443d337 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/CreateProjectCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/CreateProjectCommand.php
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ use Composer\Package\BasePackage;
 use Composer\DependencyResolver\Pool;
 use Composer\DependencyResolver\Operation\InstallOperation;
 use Composer\Package\Version\VersionSelector;
+use Composer\Package\AliasPackage;
 use Composer\Repository\RepositoryFactory;
 use Composer\Repository\CompositeRepository;
 use Composer\Repository\PlatformRepository;
@@ -330,6 +331,10 @@ EOT
             $io->writeError('<info>Plugins have been disabled.</info>');
         }
 
+        if ($package instanceof AliasPackage) {
+            $package = $package->getAliasOf();
+        }
+
         if (0 === strpos($package->getPrettyVersion(), 'dev-') && in_array($package->getSourceType(), array('git', 'hg'))) {
             $package->setSourceReference(substr($package->getPrettyVersion(), 4));
         }
diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/ShowCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/ShowCommand.php
index ffc2af132..b90ba2edc 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/ShowCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/ShowCommand.php
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ EOT
                     }
 
                     $io->writeError('Package ' . $packageFilter . ' not found in ' . $options['working-dir'] . '/composer.json');
-                    return;
+                    return 1;
                 }
             } else {
                 $versions = array($package->getPrettyVersion() => $package->getVersion());
diff --git a/src/Composer/Console/Application.php b/src/Composer/Console/Application.php
index 892c0af9d..a2165ea76 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Console/Application.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Console/Application.php
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ class Application extends BaseApplication
                 $io->writeError('<warning>Composer only officially supports PHP 5.3.2 and above, you will most likely encounter problems with your PHP '.PHP_VERSION.', upgrading is strongly recommended.</warning>');
             }
 
-            if (extension_loaded('xdebug') && (!getenv('COMPOSER_DISABLE_XDEBUG_WARN') || getenv('COMPOSER_ALLOW_XDEBUG'))) {
+            if (extension_loaded('xdebug') && !getenv('COMPOSER_DISABLE_XDEBUG_WARN')) {
                 $io->writeError('<warning>You are running composer with xdebug enabled. This has a major impact on runtime performance. See https://getcomposer.org/xdebug</warning>');
             }
 
diff --git a/src/Composer/EventDispatcher/EventDispatcher.php b/src/Composer/EventDispatcher/EventDispatcher.php
index e6cc378a0..b74d34858 100644
--- a/src/Composer/EventDispatcher/EventDispatcher.php
+++ b/src/Composer/EventDispatcher/EventDispatcher.php
@@ -175,12 +175,7 @@ class EventDispatcher
                 $args = $event->getArguments();
                 $flags = $event->getFlags();
                 if (substr($callable, 0, 10) === '@composer ') {
-                    $finder = new PhpExecutableFinder();
-                    $phpPath = $finder->find();
-                    if (!$phpPath) {
-                        throw new \RuntimeException('Failed to locate PHP binary to execute '.$scriptName);
-                    }
-                    $exec = $phpPath . '  ' . realpath($_SERVER['argv'][0]) . substr($callable, 9);
+                    $exec = $this->getPhpExecCommand() . ' ' . ProcessExecutor::escape(getenv('COMPOSER_BINARY')) . substr($callable, 9);
                     if (0 !== ($exitCode = $this->process->execute($exec))) {
                         $this->io->writeError(sprintf('<error>Script %s handling the %s event returned with error code '.$exitCode.'</error>', $callable, $event->getName()));
 
@@ -234,12 +229,7 @@ class EventDispatcher
                 }
 
                 if (substr($exec, 0, 5) === '@php ') {
-                    $finder = new PhpExecutableFinder();
-                    $phpPath = $finder->find();
-                    if (!$phpPath) {
-                        throw new \RuntimeException('Failed to locate PHP binary to execute "'.$exec.'"');
-                    }
-                    $exec = $phpPath . ' ' . substr($exec, 5);
+                    $exec = $this->getPhpExecCommand() . ' ' . substr($exec, 5);
                 }
 
                 if (0 !== ($exitCode = $this->process->execute($exec))) {
@@ -259,6 +249,19 @@ class EventDispatcher
         return $return;
     }
 
+    protected function getPhpExecCommand()
+    {
+        $finder = new PhpExecutableFinder();
+        $phpPath = $finder->find();
+        if (!$phpPath) {
+            throw new \RuntimeException('Failed to locate PHP binary to execute '.$scriptName);
+        }
+
+        $memoryFlag = ' -d memory_limit='.ini_get('memory_limit');
+
+        return ProcessExecutor::escape($phpPath) . $memoryFlag;
+    }
+
     /**
      * @param string $className
      * @param string $methodName
diff --git a/src/Composer/Installer.php b/src/Composer/Installer.php
index ec8157456..9f6fa5d04 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Installer.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Installer.php
@@ -605,7 +605,7 @@ class Installer
                 $this->eventDispatcher->dispatchPackageEvent(constant($event), $this->devMode, $policy, $pool, $installedRepo, $request, $operations, $operation);
             }
 
-            if ($this->executeOperations) {
+            if ($this->executeOperations || $this->writeLock) {
                 $localRepo->write();
             }
         }