diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/IntegrationTestSuite.java b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/IntegrationTestSuite.java
index d2e291086a..d5ba0b2735 100644
--- a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/IntegrationTestSuite.java
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/IntegrationTestSuite.java
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ public class IntegrationTestSuite
         // suite.addTestSuite( MavenIT0109ReleaseUpdateTest.class );
         // suite.addTestSuite( MavenIT0108SnapshotUpdateTest.class ); -- MNG-3137
 
+        suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng4086ExplicitPluginMetaversionTest.class );
         suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng4072InactiveProfileReposTest.class );
         suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng4070WhitespaceTrimmingTest.class );
         suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng4068AuthenticatedMirrorTest.class );
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng4086ExplicitPluginMetaversionTest.java b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng4086ExplicitPluginMetaversionTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2dfa89976b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng4086ExplicitPluginMetaversionTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+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 org.apache.maven.it.Verifier;
+import org.apache.maven.it.util.ResourceExtractor;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * This is a test set for <a href="http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/MNG-4086">MNG-4086</a>.
+ * 
+ * @author Benjamin Bentmann
+ */
+public class MavenITmng4086ExplicitPluginMetaversionTest
+    extends AbstractMavenIntegrationTestCase
+{
+
+    public MavenITmng4086ExplicitPluginMetaversionTest()
+    {
+        super( "[2.0.6,)" );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Verify that the plugin metaversion RELEASE can be explicitly used and especially is resolved
+     * to a proper version before the plugin manager creates the key for the plugin realm.
+     */
+    public void testitRelease()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        File testDir = ResourceExtractor.simpleExtractResources( getClass(), "/mng-4086" );
+
+        Verifier verifier = new Verifier( testDir.getAbsolutePath() );
+        verifier.setAutoclean( false );
+        verifier.deleteDirectory( "target" );
+        verifier.deleteArtifacts( "org.apache.maven.its.mng4086" );
+        verifier.filterFile( "settings-template.xml", "settings.xml", "UTF-8", verifier.newDefaultFilterProperties() );
+        verifier.getCliOptions().add( "--settings" );
+        verifier.getCliOptions().add( "settings.xml" );
+        verifier.setLogFileName( "log-release.txt" );
+        verifier.executeGoal( "org.apache.maven.its.mng4086:maven-it-plugin-a:RELEASE:touch" );
+        verifier.verifyErrorFreeLog();
+        verifier.resetStreams();
+
+        verifier.assertFileNotPresent( "target/touch-latest.txt" );
+        verifier.assertFilePresent( "target/touch-release.txt" );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Verify that the plugin metaversion LATEST can be explicitly used and especially is resolved
+     * to a proper version before the plugin manager creates the key for the plugin realm.
+     */
+    public void testitLatest()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        File testDir = ResourceExtractor.simpleExtractResources( getClass(), "/mng-4086" );
+
+        Verifier verifier = new Verifier( testDir.getAbsolutePath() );
+        verifier.setAutoclean( false );
+        verifier.deleteDirectory( "target" );
+        verifier.deleteArtifacts( "org.apache.maven.its.mng4086" );
+        verifier.filterFile( "settings-template.xml", "settings.xml", "UTF-8", verifier.newDefaultFilterProperties() );
+        verifier.getCliOptions().add( "--settings" );
+        verifier.getCliOptions().add( "settings.xml" );
+        verifier.setLogFileName( "log-latest.txt" );
+        verifier.executeGoal( "org.apache.maven.its.mng4086:maven-it-plugin-a:LATEST:touch" );
+        verifier.verifyErrorFreeLog();
+        verifier.resetStreams();
+
+        verifier.assertFileNotPresent( "target/touch-release.txt" );
+        verifier.assertFilePresent( "target/touch-latest.txt" );
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/pom.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ce47c50b30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+<?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 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.mng04086</groupId>
+  <artifactId>test</artifactId>
+  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <packaging>pom</packaging>
+
+  <name>Maven Integration Test :: MNG-4086</name>
+  <description>
+    Verify that the plugin metaversions RELEASE and LATEST can be explicitly used and especially are resolved
+    to a proper version before the plugin manager creates the key for the plugin realm.
+  </description>
+</project>
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.1/maven-it-plugin-a-0.1.jar b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.1/maven-it-plugin-a-0.1.jar
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..926b95c7e9
Binary files /dev/null and b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.1/maven-it-plugin-a-0.1.jar differ
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.1/maven-it-plugin-a-0.1.pom b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.1/maven-it-plugin-a-0.1.pom
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7b6d9f4859
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.1/maven-it-plugin-a-0.1.pom
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+<?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 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.mng4086</groupId>
+  <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-a</artifactId>
+  <version>0.1</version>
+  <packaging>maven-plugin</packaging>
+
+  <name>Maven Integration Test Plugin :: Touch</name>
+  <description>
+    A test plugin that creates an empty file.
+  </description>
+  <inceptionYear>2009</inceptionYear>
+
+  <distributionManagement>
+    <repository>
+      <id>maven-core-it</id>
+      <url>file:///${basedir}/repo</url>
+    </repository>
+  </distributionManagement>
+
+  <properties>
+    <maven.test.skip>true</maven.test.skip>
+  </properties>
+
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
+      <artifactId>maven-plugin-api</artifactId>
+      <version>2.0</version>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+
+  <build>
+    <resources>
+      <resource>
+        <directory>.</directory>
+        <includes>
+          <include>pom.xml</include>
+          <include>src/**</include>
+        </includes>
+      </resource>
+      <resource>
+        <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
+      </resource>
+    </resources>
+  </build>
+</project>
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.2-SNAPSHOT/maven-it-plugin-a-0.2-20090315.124508-1.jar b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.2-SNAPSHOT/maven-it-plugin-a-0.2-20090315.124508-1.jar
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4ebb8c5a38
Binary files /dev/null and b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.2-SNAPSHOT/maven-it-plugin-a-0.2-20090315.124508-1.jar differ
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.2-SNAPSHOT/maven-it-plugin-a-0.2-20090315.124508-1.pom b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.2-SNAPSHOT/maven-it-plugin-a-0.2-20090315.124508-1.pom
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d8813cc52c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.2-SNAPSHOT/maven-it-plugin-a-0.2-20090315.124508-1.pom
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+<?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 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.mng4086</groupId>
+  <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-a</artifactId>
+  <version>0.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <packaging>maven-plugin</packaging>
+
+  <name>Maven Integration Test Plugin :: Touch</name>
+  <description>
+    A test plugin that creates an empty file.
+  </description>
+  <inceptionYear>2009</inceptionYear>
+
+  <distributionManagement>
+    <repository>
+      <id>maven-core-it</id>
+      <url>file:///${basedir}/repo</url>
+    </repository>
+  </distributionManagement>
+
+  <properties>
+    <maven.test.skip>true</maven.test.skip>
+  </properties>
+
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
+      <artifactId>maven-plugin-api</artifactId>
+      <version>2.0</version>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+
+  <build>
+    <resources>
+      <resource>
+        <directory>.</directory>
+        <includes>
+          <include>pom.xml</include>
+          <include>src/**</include>
+        </includes>
+      </resource>
+      <resource>
+        <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
+      </resource>
+    </resources>
+  </build>
+</project>
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.2-SNAPSHOT/maven-metadata.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.2-SNAPSHOT/maven-metadata.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3317708ff9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/0.2-SNAPSHOT/maven-metadata.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<metadata>
+  <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.mng4086</groupId>
+  <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-a</artifactId>
+  <version>0.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <versioning>
+    <snapshot>
+      <timestamp>20090315.124508</timestamp>
+      <buildNumber>1</buildNumber>
+    </snapshot>
+    <lastUpdated>20090315124508</lastUpdated>
+  </versioning>
+</metadata>
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/maven-metadata.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/maven-metadata.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bbdc954a71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-it-plugin-a/maven-metadata.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<metadata>
+  <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.mng4086</groupId>
+  <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-a</artifactId>
+  <version>0.1</version>
+  <versioning>
+    <latest>0.2-SNAPSHOT</latest>
+    <release>0.1</release>
+    <versions>
+      <version>0.1</version>
+      <version>0.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    </versions>
+    <lastUpdated>20090315124508</lastUpdated>
+  </versioning>
+</metadata>
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-metadata.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-metadata.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5084d6ea76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4086/maven-metadata.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<metadata>
+  <plugins>
+    <plugin>
+      <name>Maven Integration Test Plugin :: Touch</name>
+      <prefix>ita</prefix>
+      <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-a</artifactId>
+    </plugin>
+  </plugins>
+</metadata>
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/settings-template.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/settings-template.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4b009b2d96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4086/settings-template.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+<?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.
+-->
+
+<settings>
+  <mirrors>
+    <mirror>
+      <!-- make sure central isn't touched -->
+      <id>test-mirror</id>
+      <url>@baseurl@/repo-null</url>
+      <mirrorOf>central</mirrorOf>
+    </mirror>
+  </mirrors>
+  <profiles>
+    <profile>
+      <id>mng-4086</id>
+      <repositories>
+        <repository>
+          <id>maven-core-it</id>
+          <url>@baseurl@/repo</url>
+          <releases>
+            <checksumPolicy>ignore</checksumPolicy>
+          </releases>
+          <snapshots>
+            <checksumPolicy>ignore</checksumPolicy>
+          </snapshots>
+        </repository>
+      </repositories>
+      <pluginRepositories>
+        <pluginRepository>
+          <id>maven-core-it</id>
+          <url>@baseurl@/repo</url>
+          <releases>
+            <checksumPolicy>ignore</checksumPolicy>
+          </releases>
+          <snapshots>
+            <checksumPolicy>ignore</checksumPolicy>
+          </snapshots>
+        </pluginRepository>
+      </pluginRepositories>
+    </profile>
+  </profiles>
+  <activeProfiles>
+    <activeProfile>mng-4086</activeProfile>
+  </activeProfiles>
+</settings>