diff --git a/java_gen/templates/custom/interface/OFMessage.java b/java_gen/templates/custom/interface/OFMessage.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d63ee6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/java_gen/templates/custom/interface/OFMessage.java
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+    
+    /**
+     * Compares the two messages for equality, ignoring the XID field.
+     *
+     * @param obj the other message to compare
+     * @return true if the messages are equal, ignoring the XID; false otherwise
+     */
+    boolean equalsIgnoreXid(Object obj);
+
+    /**
+     * Computes the hashcode of the message, ignoring the XID field.
+     * This can be useful in hashing OFMessages where an OFMessage
+     * is "the same as" another OFMessage if all fields are equal
+     * except for possibly the XIDs, which may or may not be equal.
+     *
+     * The obvious problem is that existing hash data structure 
+     * implementations will use OFMessage's hashCode() function instead.
+     * In order to use the functionality of hashCodeIgnoreXid(), one 
+     * must wrap the OFMessage within a user-defined class, where this 
+     * user-defined class is used as the key within a hash data structure, 
+     * e.g. HashMap. The user-defined class' overrideen hashCode() 
+     * function must explicitly invoke hashCodeIgnoreXid() when computing 
+     * the hash of the OFMessage member instead of computing it using 
+     * OFMessage's hashCode().
+     *
+     * @return the hashcode of the message, ignoring the XID
+     */
+    int hashCodeIgnoreXid();