Considering vmq_server is the first to use it, I suppose it's new. Oh well that's just yet another way to specify deps in rebar.config. :-)
@@ -204,6 +204,7 @@ define dep_autopatch_rebar.erl
{hex, V} -> {hex, undefined, V};
{git, R} -> {git, R, master};
{M, R, {branch, C}} -> {M, R, C};
+ {M, R, {ref, C}} -> {M, R, C};
{M, R, {tag, C}} -> {M, R, C};
{M, R, C} -> {M, R, C}
end,