--- old/src/share/classes/javax/lang/model/element/UnknownAnnotationValueException.java	Fri Feb  6 12:50:03 2009
+++ new/src/share/classes/javax/lang/model/element/UnknownAnnotationValueException.java	Fri Feb  6 12:50:02 2009
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2005-2006 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
+ * Copyright 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 
 package javax.lang.model.element;
 
+import javax.lang.model.UnknownEntityException;
+
 /**
  * Indicates that an unknown kind of annotation value was encountered.
  * This can occur if the language evolves and new kinds of annotation
@@ -39,7 +41,7 @@
  * @see AnnotationValueVisitor#visitUnknown
  * @since 1.6
  */
-public class UnknownAnnotationValueException extends RuntimeException {
+public class UnknownAnnotationValueException extends UnknownEntityException {
 
     private static final long serialVersionUID = 269L;
 
--- old/src/share/classes/javax/lang/model/element/UnknownElementException.java	Fri Feb  6 12:50:05 2009
+++ new/src/share/classes/javax/lang/model/element/UnknownElementException.java	Fri Feb  6 12:50:05 2009
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2005-2006 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
+ * Copyright 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 
 package javax.lang.model.element;
 
+import javax.lang.model.UnknownEntityException;
+
 /**
  * Indicates that an unknown kind of element was encountered.  This
  * can occur if the language evolves and new kinds of elements are
@@ -38,7 +40,7 @@
  * @see ElementVisitor#visitUnknown
  * @since 1.6
  */
-public class UnknownElementException extends RuntimeException {
+public class UnknownElementException extends UnknownEntityException {
 
     private static final long serialVersionUID = 269L;
 
--- old/src/share/classes/javax/lang/model/type/UnknownTypeException.java	Fri Feb  6 12:50:07 2009
+++ new/src/share/classes/javax/lang/model/type/UnknownTypeException.java	Fri Feb  6 12:50:07 2009
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2005-2006 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
+ * Copyright 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 
 package javax.lang.model.type;
 
+import javax.lang.model.UnknownEntityException;
+
 /**
  * Indicates that an unknown kind of type was encountered.  This can
  * occur if the language evolves and new kinds of types are added to
@@ -38,7 +40,7 @@
  * @see TypeVisitor#visitUnknown
  * @since 1.6
  */
-public class UnknownTypeException extends RuntimeException {
+public class UnknownTypeException extends UnknownEntityException {
 
     private static final long serialVersionUID = 269L;
 
--- /dev/null	Fri Feb  6 12:50:09 2009
+++ new/src/share/classes/javax/lang/model/UnknownEntityException.java	Fri Feb  6 12:50:08 2009
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
+ * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
+ *
+ * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Sun designates this
+ * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
+ * by Sun in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
+ *
+ * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+ * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
+ * accompanied this code).
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
+ * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+ * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+ *
+ * Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,
+ * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or
+ * have any questions.
+ */
+
+package javax.lang.model;
+
+/**
+ * Superclass of exceptions which indicate that an unknown kind of
+ * entity was encountered.  This situation can occur if the language
+ * evolves and new kinds of constructs are introduced.  Subclasses of
+ * this exception may be thrown by visitors to indicate that the
+ * visitor was created for a prior version of the language.
+ *
+ * <p>A common superclass for those exceptions allows a single catch
+ * block to have code handling them uniformly.
+ *
+ * @author Joseph D. Darcy
+ * @see javax.lang.model.element.UnknownElementException
+ * @see javax.lang.model.element.UnknownAnnotationValueException
+ * @see javax.lang.model.type.UnknownTypeException
+ * @since 1.7
+ */
+public class UnknownEntityException extends RuntimeException {
+
+    private static final long serialVersionUID = 269L;
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new {@code UnknownEntityException} with the specified
+     * detail message.
+     *
+     * @param message the detail message
+     */
+    protected UnknownEntityException(String message) {
+        super(message);
+    }
+}
--- /dev/null	Fri Feb  6 12:50:11 2009
+++ new/test/tools/javac/processing/model/TestExceptions.java	Fri Feb  6 12:50:10 2009
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
+ * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
+ *
+ * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+ * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
+ * accompanied this code).
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
+ * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+ * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+ *
+ * Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,
+ * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or
+ * have any questions.
+ */
+
+/*
+ * @test
+ * @bug 6794071
+ * @summary Test that exceptions have a proper parent class
+ * @author  Joseph D. Darcy
+ */
+
+import javax.lang.model.UnknownEntityException;
+import javax.lang.model.element.*;
+import javax.lang.model.type.*;
+
+/*
+ * Verify UnknownFooExceptions can be caught with a common parent
+ * exception.
+ */
+public class TestExceptions {
+    public static void main(String... args) {
+        RuntimeException[] exceptions = {
+            new UnknownElementException((Element)null, (Object)null),
+            new UnknownAnnotationValueException((AnnotationValue) null, (Object) null),
+            new UnknownTypeException((TypeMirror)null, (Object)null)
+        };
+
+        for(RuntimeException exception : exceptions) {
+            try {
+                throw exception;
+            } catch (UnknownEntityException uee) {
+                ;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}