diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng3920PlexusComponentApiTest.java b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng3920PlexusComponentApiTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..30289d4c07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng3920PlexusComponentApiTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+package org.apache.maven.it;
+
+/*
+ * 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.
+ */
+
+import java.io.File;
+
+import org.apache.maven.it.util.FileUtils;
+import org.apache.maven.it.util.ResourceExtractor;
+
+/**
+ * This is a test set for <a href="http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/MNG-3920">MNG-3920</a>. The first test verifies that
+ * a plugin using plexus-component-api in a Plexus component does not cause linkage errors. 
+ */
+public class MavenITmng3920PlexusComponentApiTest
+    extends AbstractMavenIntegrationTestCase
+{
+    public MavenITmng3920PlexusComponentApiTest()
+    {
+        super( "(2.0.10,2.1.0-M1),(2.1.0-M1,)" ); // only test in 2.0.11+, and not in 2.1.0-M1
+    }
+
+    public void testitMNG3920()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        File dir =
+            ResourceExtractor.simpleExtractResources( getClass(), "/mng-3920" );
+
+        Verifier verifier;
+
+        verifier = new Verifier( dir.getAbsolutePath() );
+
+        verifier.executeGoal( "validate" );
+
+        verifier.verifyErrorFreeLog();
+
+        verifier.resetStreams();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/bootstrap/pom.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/bootstrap/pom.xml
index 1558b576c8..f9e8cb6e32 100644
--- a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/bootstrap/pom.xml
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/bootstrap/pom.xml
@@ -183,6 +183,12 @@ under the License.
       <version>${itPluginVersion}</version>
       <scope>runtime</scope>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
+      <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api</artifactId>
+      <version>${itPluginVersion}</version>
+      <scope>runtime</scope>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-project-interpolation</artifactId>
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-3920/pom.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-3920/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f963d7c439
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-3920/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+  <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.mng3920</groupId>
+  <artifactId>child</artifactId>
+  <packaging>jar</packaging>
+  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api</artifactId>
+        <version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>velocity</goal>
+            </goals>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+</project>
diff --git a/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api/pom.xml b/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..76d1c5e9de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<!--
+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.
+-->
+
+<project>
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+  <parent>
+    <artifactId>maven-it-plugins</artifactId>
+    <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
+    <version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  </parent>
+
+  <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api</artifactId>
+  <packaging>maven-plugin</packaging>
+
+  <name>Maven Integration Test Plugin :: Plexus Component API</name>
+
+  <dependencies>
+    <!-- introduces component-api, should be excluded -->
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
+      <artifactId>plexus-velocity</artifactId>
+      <version>1.1.7</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
+      <artifactId>maven-plugin-api</artifactId>
+      <version>2.0</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>junit</groupId>
+      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
+      <version>3.8.1</version>
+      <scope>test</scope>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+</project>
diff --git a/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/its/plugins/VelocityMojo.java b/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/its/plugins/VelocityMojo.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a0f10c2597
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/its/plugins/VelocityMojo.java
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+package org.apache.maven.its.plugins;
+
+/*
+ * 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.
+ */
+
+import org.apache.maven.plugin.AbstractMojo;
+import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
+import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoFailureException;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.velocity.VelocityComponent;
+
+/**
+ * @goal velocity
+ * @phase validate
+ */
+public class VelocityMojo
+    extends AbstractMojo
+{
+    /**
+     * @component
+     */
+    protected VelocityComponent velocityComponent;
+
+    public void execute()
+        throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException
+    {
+        // velocityComponent should not be null
+        velocityComponent.getEngine();
+
+        try
+        {
+            // velocityComponent engine should not be null
+            // this is the real test to check that we got the right Initializable interface in both Plexus and the component
+            velocityComponent.getEngine().getTemplate( "/template.vm" );
+        }
+        catch ( Exception e )
+        {
+            throw new MojoExecutionException( e.getMessage(), e );
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api/src/main/resources/template.vm b/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api/src/main/resources/template.vm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8ab686eafe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api/src/main/resources/template.vm
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Hello, World!
diff --git a/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/pom.xml b/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/pom.xml
index a3cc167522..e69b83b7dc 100644
--- a/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/pom.xml
+++ b/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/pom.xml
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ under the License.
     <module>maven-it-plugin-all</module>
     <module>maven-it-plugin-plexus-utils-11</module>
     <module>maven-it-plugin-plexus-utils-new</module>
+    <module>maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api</module>
   </modules>
 
   <scm>