diff --git a/maven-repository/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/repository/LegacyMavenRepositorySystem.java b/maven-repository/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/repository/LegacyMavenRepositorySystem.java
index bb6acf060a..037e6d54f9 100644
--- a/maven-repository/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/repository/LegacyMavenRepositorySystem.java
+++ b/maven-repository/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/repository/LegacyMavenRepositorySystem.java
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
 import org.apache.maven.model.Exclusion;
 import org.apache.maven.model.Repository;
 import org.apache.maven.model.RepositoryPolicy;
-import org.apache.maven.project.artifact.InvalidDependencyVersionException;
+//import org.apache.maven.project.artifact.InvalidDependencyVersionException;
 import org.apache.maven.wagon.authentication.AuthenticationInfo;
 import org.apache.maven.wagon.events.TransferListener;
 import org.apache.maven.wagon.proxy.ProxyInfo;
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ public Artifact createPluginArtifact( String groupId, String artifactId, String
      * @todo desperately needs refactoring. It's just here because it's implementation is maven-project specific
      */
     public Set<Artifact> createArtifacts( List<Dependency> dependencies, String inheritedScope, ArtifactFilter dependencyFilter, MavenRepositoryWrapper reactor )
-        throws InvalidDependencyVersionException
+        throws VersionNotFoundException
     {
         Set<Artifact> projectArtifacts = new LinkedHashSet<Artifact>( dependencies.size() );
 
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ public Set<Artifact> createArtifacts( List<Dependency> dependencies, String inhe
             }
             catch ( InvalidVersionSpecificationException e )
             {
-                throw new InvalidDependencyVersionException( reactor.getId(), d, reactor.getFile(), e );
+                throw new VersionNotFoundException( reactor.getId(), d, reactor.getFile(), e );
             }
             Artifact artifact = artifactFactory.createDependencyArtifact( d.getGroupId(), d.getArtifactId(),
                                                                           versionRange, d.getType(), d.getClassifier(),
diff --git a/maven-repository/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/repository/MavenRepositorySystem.java b/maven-repository/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/repository/MavenRepositorySystem.java
index a288c275f3..c7d6c71e5f 100644
--- a/maven-repository/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/repository/MavenRepositorySystem.java
+++ b/maven-repository/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/repository/MavenRepositorySystem.java
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.versioning.ArtifactVersion;
 import org.apache.maven.model.Dependency;
 import org.apache.maven.model.Repository;
-import org.apache.maven.project.artifact.InvalidDependencyVersionException;
 import org.apache.maven.wagon.events.TransferListener;
 
 /**
@@ -63,7 +62,7 @@ public interface MavenRepositorySystem
     Artifact createDependencyArtifact( String groupId, String artifactId, String version, String type, String classifier, String scope, String inheritedScope );
     
     Set<Artifact> createArtifacts( List<Dependency> dependencies, String inheritedScope, ArtifactFilter dependencyFilter, MavenRepositoryWrapper reactor )
-        throws InvalidDependencyVersionException;
+        throws VersionNotFoundException;
 
     // Repository creation
 
diff --git a/maven-repository/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/repository/VersionNotFoundException.java b/maven-repository/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/repository/VersionNotFoundException.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..728778af6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-repository/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/repository/VersionNotFoundException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+package org.apache.maven.repository;
+
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.ArtifactUtils;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.versioning.InvalidVersionSpecificationException;
+import org.apache.maven.model.Dependency;
+
+import java.io.File;
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Thrown if a dependency has an invalid version.
+ *
+ * @author <a href="mailto:brett@apache.org">Brett Porter</a>
+ * @version $Id$
+ */
+public class VersionNotFoundException
+    extends Exception
+{
+    private Dependency dependency;
+
+    public VersionNotFoundException( String projectId
+                                     , Dependency dependency
+                                     , File pomFile
+                                     , InvalidVersionSpecificationException cause 
+                                     )
+    {
+        super( projectId+", "+formatLocationInPom( dependency )+ " " +dependency.getVersion()+", pom file "+pomFile, cause );
+        
+        this.dependency = dependency;
+    }
+
+    private static String formatLocationInPom( Dependency dependency )
+    {
+        return "Dependency: " + ArtifactUtils.versionlessKey( dependency.getGroupId(), dependency.getArtifactId() );
+    }
+
+    public Dependency getDependency()
+    {
+        return dependency;
+    }
+}