diff --git a/maven-artifact-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/transform/LatestArtifactTransformation.java b/maven-artifact-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/transform/LatestArtifactTransformation.java
index 03c1064225..5168db0b35 100644
--- a/maven-artifact-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/transform/LatestArtifactTransformation.java
+++ b/maven-artifact-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/transform/LatestArtifactTransformation.java
@@ -32,11 +32,14 @@ public class LatestArtifactTransformation
         if ( Artifact.LATEST_VERSION.equals( artifact.getVersion() ) )
         {
             String version = resolveVersion( artifact, localRepository, remoteRepositories );
-            if ( version != null && !version.equals( artifact.getVersion() ) )
+            if ( Artifact.LATEST_VERSION.equals( version ) )
             {
-                artifact.setBaseVersion( version );
-                artifact.updateVersion( version, localRepository );
+                throw new ArtifactMetadataRetrievalException(
+                    "Unable to determine the latest version for artifact " + artifact );
             }
+
+            artifact.setBaseVersion( version );
+            artifact.updateVersion( version, localRepository );
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/maven-artifact-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/transform/ReleaseArtifactTransformation.java b/maven-artifact-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/transform/ReleaseArtifactTransformation.java
index b852c674c7..96ce214a97 100644
--- a/maven-artifact-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/transform/ReleaseArtifactTransformation.java
+++ b/maven-artifact-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/transform/ReleaseArtifactTransformation.java
@@ -34,20 +34,21 @@ import java.util.List;
 public class ReleaseArtifactTransformation
     extends AbstractVersionTransformation
 {
-    public static final String RELEASE_VERSION = "RELEASE";
-
     public void transformForResolve( Artifact artifact, List remoteRepositories, ArtifactRepository localRepository )
         throws ArtifactMetadataRetrievalException
     {
-        if ( RELEASE_VERSION.equals( artifact.getVersion() ) )
+        if ( Artifact.RELEASE_VERSION.equals( artifact.getVersion() ) )
         {
             String version = resolveVersion( artifact, localRepository, remoteRepositories );
 
-            if ( version != null && !version.equals( artifact.getVersion() ) )
+            if ( Artifact.RELEASE_VERSION.equals( version ) )
             {
-                artifact.setBaseVersion( version );
-                artifact.updateVersion( version, localRepository );
+                throw new ArtifactMetadataRetrievalException(
+                    "Unable to determine the release version for artifact " + artifact );
             }
+
+            artifact.setBaseVersion( version );
+            artifact.updateVersion( version, localRepository );
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/maven-artifact/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/Artifact.java b/maven-artifact/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/Artifact.java
index 2bee63ba1c..d9fa457e94 100644
--- a/maven-artifact/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/Artifact.java
+++ b/maven-artifact/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/Artifact.java
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ public interface Artifact
 
     String SCOPE_SYSTEM = "system";
 
+    String RELEASE_VERSION = "RELEASE";
+
     String getGroupId();
 
     String getArtifactId();
diff --git a/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/version/DefaultPluginVersionManager.java b/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/version/DefaultPluginVersionManager.java
index 9da5bdda98..71694556ac 100644
--- a/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/version/DefaultPluginVersionManager.java
+++ b/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/version/DefaultPluginVersionManager.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import org.apache.maven.artifact.metadata.ArtifactMetadataRetrievalException;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.metadata.ArtifactMetadataSource;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.metadata.ResolutionGroup;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.repository.ArtifactRepository;
-import org.apache.maven.artifact.transform.ReleaseArtifactTransformation;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.versioning.DefaultArtifactVersion;
 import org.apache.maven.execution.RuntimeInformation;
 import org.apache.maven.model.Plugin;
@@ -91,7 +90,7 @@ public class DefaultPluginVersionManager
      * @deprecated Make private, use resolveReportPluginVersion(..) or resolvePluginVersion(..) instead.
      */
     public String resolvePluginVersion( String groupId, String artifactId, MavenProject project, Settings settings,
-                                         ArtifactRepository localRepository, boolean resolveAsReportPlugin )
+                                        ArtifactRepository localRepository, boolean resolveAsReportPlugin )
         throws PluginVersionResolutionException
     {
         // first pass...if the plugin is specified in the pom, try to retrieve the version from there.
@@ -127,8 +126,7 @@ public class DefaultPluginVersionManager
                     ( !Boolean.FALSE.equals( pluginUpdateOverride ) && shouldCheckForUpdates( groupId, artifactId ) ) )
                 {
                     updatedVersion = resolveMetaVersion( groupId, artifactId, project.getPluginArtifactRepositories(),
-                                                         localRepository,
-                                                         ReleaseArtifactTransformation.RELEASE_VERSION );
+                                                         localRepository, Artifact.RELEASE_VERSION );
 
                     if ( StringUtils.isNotEmpty( updatedVersion ) && !updatedVersion.equals( version ) )
                     {
@@ -188,7 +186,7 @@ public class DefaultPluginVersionManager
         {
             // 1. resolve the version to be used
             version = resolveMetaVersion( groupId, artifactId, project.getPluginArtifactRepositories(), localRepository,
-                                          ReleaseArtifactTransformation.RELEASE_VERSION );
+                                          Artifact.RELEASE_VERSION );
 
             if ( version != null )
             {
diff --git a/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/pom.xml b/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/pom.xml
index 1361559e78..80e8dfffb1 100755
--- a/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/pom.xml
+++ b/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/pom.xml
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.codehaus.modello</groupId>
         <artifactId>modello-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>RELEASE</version>
         <executions>
           <execution>
             <goals>
@@ -58,4 +57,4 @@
       <version>2.0-beta-1</version>
     </dependency>
   </dependencies>
-</project>
\ No newline at end of file
+</project>