diff --git a/lib/rubygems/dependency.rb b/lib/rubygems/dependency.rb
index b09a5fe8ef..0c58815c85 100644
--- a/lib/rubygems/dependency.rb
+++ b/lib/rubygems/dependency.rb
@@ -334,4 +334,18 @@ class Gem::Dependency
     matches.first
   end
 
+  def identity
+    if prerelease?
+      if specific?
+        :complete
+      else
+        :abs_latest
+      end
+    elsif latest_version?
+      :latest
+    else
+      :released
+    end
+  end
+
 end
diff --git a/test/rubygems/test_gem_dependency.rb b/test/rubygems/test_gem_dependency.rb
index bf2f065573..0caab10d32 100644
--- a/test/rubygems/test_gem_dependency.rb
+++ b/test/rubygems/test_gem_dependency.rb
@@ -385,4 +385,11 @@ class TestGemDependency < Gem::TestCase
     assert_match "Could not find 'b' (= 2.0) among 1 total gem(s)", e.message
   end
 
+  def test_identity
+    assert_equal dep("a", "= 1").identity, :released
+    assert_equal dep("a", "= 1.a").identity, :complete
+    assert_equal dep("a", " >= 1.a").identity, :abs_latest
+    assert_equal dep("a").identity, :latest
+  end
+
 end