--- /dev/null
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2010, 2014 Sonatype, Inc.
+ * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+ * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
+ * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
+ * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+ *
+ * Contributors:
+ * Sonatype, Inc. - initial API and implementation
+ *******************************************************************************/
+package org.eclipse.aether.version;
+
+/**
+ * A constraint on versions for a dependency. A constraint can either consist of a version range (e.g. "[1, ]") or a
+ * single version (e.g. "1.1"). In the first case, the constraint expresses a hard requirement on a version matching the
+ * range. In the second case, the constraint expresses a soft requirement on a specific version (i.e. a recommendation).
+ */
+public interface VersionConstraint
+{
+
+ /**
+ * Gets the version range of this constraint.
+ *
+ * @return The version range or {@code null} if none.
+ */
+ VersionRange getRange();
+
+ /**
+ * Gets the version recommended by this constraint.
+ *
+ * @return The recommended version or {@code null} if none.
+ */
+ Version getVersion();
+
+ /**
+ * Determines whether the specified version satisfies this constraint. In more detail, a version satisfies this
+ * constraint if it matches its version range or if this constraint has no version range and the specified version
+ * equals the version recommended by the constraint.
+ *
+ * @param version The version to test, must not be {@code null}.
+ * @return {@code true} if the specified version satisfies this constraint, {@code false} otherwise.
+ */
+ boolean containsVersion( Version version );
+
+}