Index: Include/object.h
===================================================================
--- Include/object.h	(revision 63954)
+++ Include/object.h	(working copy)
@@ -408,6 +408,11 @@
 	/* Type attribute cache version tag. Added in version 2.6 */
 	unsigned int tp_version_tag;
 
+#ifdef Py_USING_UNICODE   
+        /* Added in version 2.6 */
+	reprfunc tp_unicode;
+#endif
+
 #ifdef COUNT_ALLOCS
 	/* these must be last and never explicitly initialized */
 	Py_ssize_t tp_allocs;
Index: Objects/object.c
===================================================================
--- Objects/object.c	(revision 63954)
+++ Objects/object.c	(working copy)
@@ -471,14 +471,15 @@
 		Py_INCREF(v);
 		return v;
 	}
-	/* XXX As soon as we have a tp_unicode slot, we should
-	   check this before trying the __unicode__
-	   method. */
-	if (unicodestr == NULL) {
+	if (Py_TYPE(v)->tp_unicode != NULL) {
+		unicodestr = (*Py_TYPE(v)->tp_unicode)(v);
+		return unicodestr;
+	} else {
 		unicodestr= PyBytes_InternFromString("__unicode__");
 		if (unicodestr == NULL)
 			return NULL;
 	}
+	
 	func = PyObject_GetAttr(v, unicodestr);
 	if (func != NULL) {
 		res = PyEval_CallObject(func, (PyObject *)NULL);
Index: Objects/exceptions.c
===================================================================
--- Objects/exceptions.c	(revision 63954)
+++ Objects/exceptions.c	(working copy)
@@ -117,7 +117,29 @@
     return out;
 }
 
+#ifdef Py_USING_UNICODE
 static PyObject *
+BaseException_unicode(PyBaseExceptionObject *self)
+{
+    PyObject *out;
+
+    switch (PyTuple_GET_SIZE(self->args)) {
+    case 0:
+        out = PyUnicode_FromString("");
+        break;
+    case 1:
+        out = PyObject_Unicode(PyTuple_GET_ITEM(self->args, 0));
+        break;
+    default:
+        out = PyObject_Unicode(self->args);
+        break;
+    }
+
+    return out;
+}
+#endif
+
+static PyObject *
 BaseException_repr(PyBaseExceptionObject *self)
 {
     PyObject *repr_suffix;
@@ -352,6 +374,16 @@
     (initproc)BaseException_init, /* tp_init */
     0,                          /* tp_alloc */
     BaseException_new,          /* tp_new */
+    0,                          /* tp_free */
+    0,                          /* tp_is_gc */
+    0,                          /* tp_bases */
+    0,                          /* tp_mro */
+    0,                          /* tp_cache */
+    0,                          /* tp_subclasses */
+    0,                          /* tp_weaklist */
+    0,                          /* tp_del */
+    0,                          /* tp_version_tag */
+    (reprfunc)BaseException_unicode,  /*tp_unicode*/
 };
 /* the CPython API expects exceptions to be (PyObject *) - both a hold-over
 from the previous implmentation and also allowing Python objects to be used
@@ -374,6 +406,7 @@
     (inquiry)BaseException_clear, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, &_ ## EXCBASE, \
     0, 0, 0, offsetof(PyBaseExceptionObject, dict), \
     (initproc)BaseException_init, 0, BaseException_new,\
+    0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, (reprfunc)BaseException_unicode,\
 }; \
 PyObject *PyExc_ ## EXCNAME = (PyObject *)&_PyExc_ ## EXCNAME
 
@@ -390,6 +423,7 @@
     (inquiry)EXCSTORE ## _clear, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, &_ ## EXCBASE, \
     0, 0, 0, offsetof(Py ## EXCSTORE ## Object, dict), \
     (initproc)EXCSTORE ## _init, 0, BaseException_new,\
+    0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, (reprfunc)BaseException_unicode,\
 }; \
 PyObject *PyExc_ ## EXCNAME = (PyObject *)&_PyExc_ ## EXCNAME
 
@@ -407,6 +441,7 @@
     EXCMEMBERS, 0, &_ ## EXCBASE, \
     0, 0, 0, offsetof(Py ## EXCSTORE ## Object, dict), \
     (initproc)EXCSTORE ## _init, 0, BaseException_new,\
+    0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, (reprfunc)BaseException_unicode,\
 }; \
 PyObject *PyExc_ ## EXCNAME = (PyObject *)&_PyExc_ ## EXCNAME
 
Index: Lib/test/test_exceptions.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_exceptions.py	(revision 63954)
+++ Lib/test/test_exceptions.py	(working copy)
@@ -340,8 +340,13 @@
         # representation.
         self.failUnless(str(Exception))
         self.failUnless(unicode(Exception))
+        self.failUnless(unicode(BaseException))
+        self.failUnless(unicode(ValueError))
         self.failUnless(str(Exception('a')))
         self.failUnless(unicode(Exception(u'a')))
+        self.failUnless(unicode(Exception(u'\xe1')))
+        self.failUnless(unicode(BaseException(u'\xe1')))
+        self.failUnless(unicode(ValueError(u'\xe1')))
 
 
 def test_main():