diff --git a/src/cli_plugin/install/__tests__/kibana.js b/src/cli_plugin/install/__tests__/kibana.js
index f29fc6455f438..15d6b25d27410 100644
--- a/src/cli_plugin/install/__tests__/kibana.js
+++ b/src/cli_plugin/install/__tests__/kibana.js
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ describe('kibana cli', function () {
           expect(errorStub.called).to.be(false);
         });
 
-        it('should throw an error if plugin does contain a version.', function () {
+        it('should throw an error if plugin is missing a kibana version.', function () {
           const errorStub = sinon.stub();
 
           try {
@@ -69,10 +69,10 @@ describe('kibana cli', function () {
             errorStub(err);
           }
 
-          expect(errorStub.firstCall.args[0]).to.match(/plugin version not found/i);
+          expect(errorStub.firstCall.args[0]).to.match(/plugin package\.json is missing both a version property/i);
         });
 
-        it('should throw an error if plugin kibanaVersion does does not match kibana version', function () {
+        it('should throw an error if plugin kibanaVersion does not match kibana version', function () {
           const errorStub = sinon.stub();
           settings.plugins[0].kibanaVersion = '1.2.3.4';
 
diff --git a/src/cli_plugin/install/__tests__/pack.js b/src/cli_plugin/install/__tests__/pack.js
index 768c47db25997..39a61e58a93d6 100644
--- a/src/cli_plugin/install/__tests__/pack.js
+++ b/src/cli_plugin/install/__tests__/pack.js
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ describe('kibana cli', function () {
     let settings;
 
     beforeEach(function () {
+      //These tests are dependent on the file system, and I had some inconsistent
+      //behavior with rimraf.sync show up. Until these tests are re-written to not
+      //depend on the file system, I make sure that each test uses a different
+      //working directory.
       testNum += 1;
       testWorkingPath = join(workingPathRoot, testNum + '');
       tempArchiveFilePath = join(testWorkingPath, 'archive.part');
diff --git a/src/cli_plugin/install/kibana.js b/src/cli_plugin/install/kibana.js
index 789aa426149c8..86992fadf7a10 100644
--- a/src/cli_plugin/install/kibana.js
+++ b/src/cli_plugin/install/kibana.js
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ export async function rebuildCache(settings, logger) {
 
 export function assertVersion(settings) {
   if (!settings.plugins[0].kibanaVersion) {
-    throw new Error (`Plugin version not found. Check package.json in archive`);
+    throw new Error (`Plugin package.json is missing both a version property (required) and a kibana.version property (optional).`);
   }
 
   const actual = cleanVersion(settings.plugins[0].kibanaVersion);
diff --git a/src/cli_plugin/install/pack.js b/src/cli_plugin/install/pack.js
index d106a75b0d818..76056523a3121 100644
--- a/src/cli_plugin/install/pack.js
+++ b/src/cli_plugin/install/pack.js
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ function assertValidPackageName(plugin) {
 
 /**
  * Examine each package.json file to determine the plugin name,
- *  version, and platform. Mutates the package objects in the packages array
+ *  version, kibanaVersion, and platform. Mutates the package objects
+ *  in the packages array
  * @param {object} settings - a plugin installer settings object
  * @param {array} packages - array of package objects from listPackages()
  */
@@ -69,10 +70,12 @@ async function mergePackageData(settings, packages) {
     pkg.version = _.get(packageInfo, 'version');
     pkg.name = _.get(packageInfo, 'name');
     pkg.path =  resolve(settings.pluginDir, pkg.name);
-    pkg.kibanaVersion = _.get(packageInfo, 'kibana.version');
-    if (!pkg.kibanaVersion) {
-      pkg.kibanaVersion = pkg.version;
-    }
+
+    // Plugins must specify their version, and by default that version should match
+    // the version of kibana down to the patch level. If these two versions need
+    // to diverge, they can specify a kibana.version to indicate the version of
+    // kibana the plugin is intended to work with.
+    pkg.kibanaVersion = _.get(packageInfo, 'kibana.version', pkg.version);
 
     const regExp = new RegExp(`${pkg.name}-(.+)`, 'i');
     const matches = pkg.folder.match(regExp);