diff --git a/gson/pom.xml b/gson/pom.xml
index 13c2515a..0063f1cb 100644
--- a/gson/pom.xml
+++ b/gson/pom.xml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
       <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
   </dependencies>
-
+ 
   <build>
     <plugins>
       <plugin>
@@ -56,6 +56,23 @@
         <groupId>org.apache.felix</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-bundle-plugin</artifactId>
       </plugin>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
+        <artifactId>templating-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>1.0.0</version>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <id>filtering-java-templates</id>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>filter-sources</goal>
+            </goals>
+            <configuration>
+              <sourceDirectory>${basedir}/src/main/java-templates</sourceDirectory>
+              <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/generated-sources/java-templates</outputDirectory>
+            </configuration>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
     </plugins>
   </build>
 </project>
diff --git a/gson/src/main/java-templates/com/google/gson/internal/GsonBuildConfig.java b/gson/src/main/java-templates/com/google/gson/internal/GsonBuildConfig.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..73c61546
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gson/src/main/java-templates/com/google/gson/internal/GsonBuildConfig.java
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2018 The Gson authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.google.gson.internal;
+
+/**
+ * Build configuration for Gson. This file is automatically populated by
+ * templating-maven-plugin and .java/.class files are generated for use in Gson.
+ *
+ * @author Inderjeet Singh
+ */
+public final class GsonBuildConfig {
+  // Based on https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2469922/generate-a-version-java-file-in-maven
+
+  /** This field is automatically populated by Maven when a build is triggered */
+  public static final String VERSION = "${project.version}";
+}
diff --git a/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/Gson.java b/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/Gson.java
index 5b1c6c83..b19302da 100644
--- a/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/Gson.java
+++ b/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/Gson.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLongArray;
 
 import com.google.gson.internal.ConstructorConstructor;
 import com.google.gson.internal.Excluder;
+import com.google.gson.internal.GsonBuildConfig;
 import com.google.gson.internal.Primitives;
 import com.google.gson.internal.Streams;
 import com.google.gson.internal.bind.ArrayTypeAdapter;
@@ -461,7 +462,7 @@ public final class Gson {
           return candidate;
         }
       }
-      throw new IllegalArgumentException("GSON cannot handle " + type);
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("GSON (" + GsonBuildConfig.VERSION + ") cannot handle " + type);
     } finally {
       threadCalls.remove(type);
 
@@ -703,6 +704,8 @@ public final class Gson {
       ((TypeAdapter<Object>) adapter).write(writer, src);
     } catch (IOException e) {
       throw new JsonIOException(e);
+    } catch (AssertionError e) {
+      throw new AssertionError("AssertionError (GSON " + GsonBuildConfig.VERSION + "): " + e.getMessage(), e);
     } finally {
       writer.setLenient(oldLenient);
       writer.setHtmlSafe(oldHtmlSafe);
@@ -779,6 +782,8 @@ public final class Gson {
       Streams.write(jsonElement, writer);
     } catch (IOException e) {
       throw new JsonIOException(e);
+    } catch (AssertionError e) {
+      throw new AssertionError("AssertionError (GSON " + GsonBuildConfig.VERSION + "): " + e.getMessage(), e);
     } finally {
       writer.setLenient(oldLenient);
       writer.setHtmlSafe(oldHtmlSafe);
@@ -935,6 +940,8 @@ public final class Gson {
     } catch (IOException e) {
       // TODO(inder): Figure out whether it is indeed right to rethrow this as JsonSyntaxException
       throw new JsonSyntaxException(e);
+    } catch (AssertionError e) {
+      throw new AssertionError("AssertionError (GSON " + GsonBuildConfig.VERSION + "): " + e.getMessage(), e);
     } finally {
       reader.setLenient(oldLenient);
     }
diff --git a/gson/src/test/java/com/google/gson/functional/GsonVersionDiagnosticsTest.java b/gson/src/test/java/com/google/gson/functional/GsonVersionDiagnosticsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..36eff8e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gson/src/test/java/com/google/gson/functional/GsonVersionDiagnosticsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2018 Gson Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.google.gson.functional;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import com.google.gson.Gson;
+import com.google.gson.GsonBuilder;
+import com.google.gson.TypeAdapter;
+import com.google.gson.stream.JsonReader;
+import com.google.gson.stream.JsonWriter;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+/**
+ * Functional tests to validate printing of Gson version on AssertionErrors
+ *
+ * @author Inderjeet Singh
+ */
+public class GsonVersionDiagnosticsTest extends TestCase {
+  private static final Pattern GSON_VERSION_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("(\\(GSON \\d\\.\\d\\.\\d)(?:[-.][A-Z]+)?\\)$");
+
+  private Gson gson;
+
+  @Before
+  public void setUp() {
+    gson = new GsonBuilder().registerTypeAdapter(TestType.class, new TypeAdapter<TestType>() {
+      @Override public void write(JsonWriter out, TestType value) {
+        throw new AssertionError("Expected during serialization");
+      }
+      @Override public TestType read(JsonReader in) throws IOException {
+        throw new AssertionError("Expected during deserialization");
+      }
+    }).create();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testVersionPattern() {
+    assertTrue(GSON_VERSION_PATTERN.matcher("(GSON 2.8.5)").matches());
+    assertTrue(GSON_VERSION_PATTERN.matcher("(GSON 2.8.5-SNAPSHOT)").matches());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testAssertionErrorInSerializationPrintsVersion() {
+    try {
+      gson.toJson(new TestType());
+      fail();
+    } catch (AssertionError expected) {
+      ensureAssertionErrorPrintsGsonVersion(expected);
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testAssertionErrorInDeserializationPrintsVersion() {
+    try {
+      gson.fromJson("{'a':'abc'}", TestType.class);
+      fail();
+    } catch (AssertionError expected) {
+      ensureAssertionErrorPrintsGsonVersion(expected);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private void ensureAssertionErrorPrintsGsonVersion(AssertionError expected) {
+    String msg = expected.getMessage();
+    // System.err.println(msg);
+    int start = msg.indexOf("(GSON");
+    assertTrue(start > 0);
+    int end = msg.indexOf("):") + 1;
+    assertTrue(end > 0 && end > start + 6);
+    String version = msg.substring(start, end);
+    // System.err.println(version);
+    assertTrue(GSON_VERSION_PATTERN.matcher(version).matches());
+  }
+
+  private static final class TestType {
+    @SuppressWarnings("unused")
+    String a;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/gson/src/test/java/com/google/gson/internal/GsonBuildConfigTest.java b/gson/src/test/java/com/google/gson/internal/GsonBuildConfigTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dc39bc02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gson/src/test/java/com/google/gson/internal/GsonBuildConfigTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2018 The Gson authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.google.gson.internal;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for {@code GsonBuildConfig}
+ *
+ * @author Inderjeet Singh
+ */
+public class GsonBuildConfigTest {
+
+  @Test
+  public void testEnsureGsonBuildConfigGetsUpdatedToMavenVersion() {
+    assertFalse("${project.version}".equals(GsonBuildConfig.VERSION));
+  }
+}