diff --git a/aether-api/src/main/java/org/eclipse/aether/graph/DefaultDependencyNode.java b/aether-api/src/main/java/org/eclipse/aether/graph/DefaultDependencyNode.java
index 6d5b1e5e2054bab57ce572ba0b722a4365ff849d..72537caf8741ec4575aed6cbd9b9f051869f27be 100644
--- a/aether-api/src/main/java/org/eclipse/aether/graph/DefaultDependencyNode.java
+++ b/aether-api/src/main/java/org/eclipse/aether/graph/DefaultDependencyNode.java
@@ -112,11 +112,6 @@ public final class DefaultDependencyNode
         return children;
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Sets the child nodes of this node.
-     * 
-     * @param children The child nodes, may be {@code null}
-     */
     public void setChildren( List<DependencyNode> children )
     {
         if ( children == null )
diff --git a/aether-api/src/main/java/org/eclipse/aether/graph/DependencyNode.java b/aether-api/src/main/java/org/eclipse/aether/graph/DependencyNode.java
index 63cd61e4819fa356c19395928d173b1d2812acc8..c983c3caa539a523c950713ca1f459e954b55ae1 100644
--- a/aether-api/src/main/java/org/eclipse/aether/graph/DependencyNode.java
+++ b/aether-api/src/main/java/org/eclipse/aether/graph/DependencyNode.java
@@ -33,12 +33,22 @@ public interface DependencyNode
 {
 
     /**
-     * Gets the child nodes of this node.
+     * Gets the child nodes of this node. To conserve memory, dependency nodes with equal dependencies may share the
+     * same child list instance. Hence clients mutating the child list need to be aware that these changes might affect
+     * more than this node. Where this is not desired, the child list should be copied before mutation if the client
+     * cannot be sure whether it might be shared with other nodes in the graph.
      * 
      * @return The child nodes of this node, never {@code null}.
      */
     List<DependencyNode> getChildren();
 
+    /**
+     * Sets the child nodes of this node.
+     * 
+     * @param children The child nodes, may be {@code null}
+     */
+    void setChildren( List<DependencyNode> children );
+
     /**
      * Gets the dependency associated with this node. <em>Note:</em> For dependency graphs that have been constructed
      * without a root dependency, this method will yield {@code null} when invoked on the graph's root node. The root
diff --git a/aether-impl/src/main/java/org/eclipse/aether/internal/impl/DefaultDependencyCollector.java b/aether-impl/src/main/java/org/eclipse/aether/internal/impl/DefaultDependencyCollector.java
index 9d5c9f5c084fd942b99927f9ae82a844ffa2183a..6f4b56133516a67e0d9e5145e94b6da23d82d00b 100644
--- a/aether-impl/src/main/java/org/eclipse/aether/internal/impl/DefaultDependencyCollector.java
+++ b/aether-impl/src/main/java/org/eclipse/aether/internal/impl/DefaultDependencyCollector.java
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ public class DefaultDependencyCollector
                     if ( cycleNode != null )
                     {
                         DefaultDependencyNode child = new DefaultDependencyNode( d );
-                        child.setChildren( new ArrayList<DependencyNode>( cycleNode.getChildren() ) );
+                        child.setChildren( cycleNode.getChildren() );
                         child.setPremanagedScope( premanagedScope );
                         child.setPremanagedVersion( premanagedVersion );
                         child.setRelocations( relocations );
@@ -537,7 +537,7 @@ public class DefaultDependencyCollector
                         }
                         else
                         {
-                            child.setChildren( new ArrayList<DependencyNode>( children ) );
+                            child.setChildren( children );
                         }
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/aether-impl/src/test/java/org/eclipse/aether/internal/impl/DefaultDependencyCollectorTest.java b/aether-impl/src/test/java/org/eclipse/aether/internal/impl/DefaultDependencyCollectorTest.java
index d5fe152db33ad7f14d1b66f8fbb6c39165210437..949e779e876e59eb60514a511fc6d3c5feaf33b5 100644
--- a/aether-impl/src/test/java/org/eclipse/aether/internal/impl/DefaultDependencyCollectorTest.java
+++ b/aether-impl/src/test/java/org/eclipse/aether/internal/impl/DefaultDependencyCollectorTest.java
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ import java.util.Map;
 import org.eclipse.aether.RepositorySystemSession;
 import org.eclipse.aether.artifact.Artifact;
 import org.eclipse.aether.artifact.ArtifactProperties;
-import org.eclipse.aether.artifact.DefaultArtifact;
 import org.eclipse.aether.collection.CollectRequest;
 import org.eclipse.aether.collection.CollectResult;
 import org.eclipse.aether.collection.DependencyCollectionContext;
@@ -385,28 +384,6 @@ public class DefaultDependencyCollectorTest
         assertEquals( "managed", dep( node, 0, 0 ).getArtifact().getProperty( ArtifactProperties.LOCAL_PATH, null ) );
     }
 
-    @Test
-    public void testDiamondWithSharedSinkNode()
-        throws Exception
-    {
-        CollectRequest request = new CollectRequest();
-        request.addDependency( new Dependency( new DefaultArtifact( "test:a:1" ), "compile" ) );
-        request.addDependency( new Dependency( new DefaultArtifact( "test:b:1" ), "compile" ) );
-        request.addRepository( repository );
-        collector.setArtifactDescriptorReader( new IniArtifactDescriptorReader( "artifact-descriptions/diamond/" ) );
-        CollectResult result = collector.collectDependencies( session, request );
-        DependencyNode root = result.getRoot();
-        assertNotNull( root );
-        assertEquals( 2, root.getChildren().size() );
-        assertEquals( 1, root.getChildren().get( 0 ).getChildren().size() );
-        assertEquals( 1, root.getChildren().get( 1 ).getChildren().size() );
-        assertSame( root.getChildren().get( 0 ).getChildren().get( 0 ),
-                    root.getChildren().get( 1 ).getChildren().get( 0 ) );
-        root.getChildren().get( 0 ).getChildren().remove( 0 );
-        assertEquals( 0, root.getChildren().get( 0 ).getChildren().size() );
-        assertEquals( 1, root.getChildren().get( 1 ).getChildren().size() );
-    }
-
     /*     */
     public class TestDependencyManager
         implements DependencyManager
diff --git a/aether-impl/src/test/resources/artifact-descriptions/diamond/test_a_1_jar.ini b/aether-impl/src/test/resources/artifact-descriptions/diamond/test_a_1_jar.ini
deleted file mode 100644
index df1ec140ba4db9ae52c5e2718bc056e25b3306a1..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/aether-impl/src/test/resources/artifact-descriptions/diamond/test_a_1_jar.ini
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-[dependencies]
-test:x:jar:1
diff --git a/aether-impl/src/test/resources/artifact-descriptions/diamond/test_b_1_jar.ini b/aether-impl/src/test/resources/artifact-descriptions/diamond/test_b_1_jar.ini
deleted file mode 100644
index 4d6e5c7b320d2bda0c0d6c4f6bfab29a6375c719..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/aether-impl/src/test/resources/artifact-descriptions/diamond/test_b_1_jar.ini
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-[relocation]
-test:a:jar:1
diff --git a/aether-impl/src/test/resources/artifact-descriptions/diamond/test_x_1_jar.ini b/aether-impl/src/test/resources/artifact-descriptions/diamond/test_x_1_jar.ini
deleted file mode 100644
index 61a252c23574c08eb413399efb90a2103e9b51f2..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/aether-impl/src/test/resources/artifact-descriptions/diamond/test_x_1_jar.ini
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-[dependencies]