diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index f796b0ecf54..c0405d396de 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -771,6 +771,9 @@ Release 2.0.5-beta - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-4842. Identify the correct prior snapshot when deleting a 
     snapshot under a renamed subtree. (jing9)
 
+    HDFS-4846. Clean up snapshot CLI commands output stacktrace for invalid
+    arguments. (Jing Zhao via brandonli)
+
 Release 2.0.4-alpha - 2013-04-25
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java
index 9ec7c64155c..c945d5e5aa6 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java
@@ -2152,11 +2152,7 @@ public SnapshottableDirectoryStatus[] getSnapshottableDirListing()
    */
   public void allowSnapshot(String snapshotRoot) throws IOException {
     checkOpen();
-    try {
-      namenode.allowSnapshot(snapshotRoot);
-    } catch(RemoteException re) {
-      throw re.unwrapRemoteException();
-    }
+    namenode.allowSnapshot(snapshotRoot);
   }
   
   /**
@@ -2166,11 +2162,7 @@ public void allowSnapshot(String snapshotRoot) throws IOException {
    */
   public void disallowSnapshot(String snapshotRoot) throws IOException {
     checkOpen();
-    try {
-      namenode.disallowSnapshot(snapshotRoot);
-    } catch(RemoteException re) {
-      throw re.unwrapRemoteException();
-    }
+    namenode.disallowSnapshot(snapshotRoot);
   }
   
   /**
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java
index c019e40bffe..9fa302a1890 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java
@@ -1433,7 +1433,7 @@ private static void checkSnapshot(INode target,
         INodeDirectorySnapshottable ssTargetDir = 
             (INodeDirectorySnapshottable) targetDir;
         if (ssTargetDir.getNumSnapshots() > 0) {
-          throw new IOException("The direcotry " + ssTargetDir.getFullPathName()
+          throw new IOException("The directory " + ssTargetDir.getFullPathName()
               + " cannot be deleted since " + ssTargetDir.getFullPathName()
               + " is snapshottable and already has snapshots");
         } else {
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/snapshot/LsSnapshottableDir.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/snapshot/LsSnapshottableDir.java
index c8ac8611a31..d7621794391 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/snapshot/LsSnapshottableDir.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/snapshot/LsSnapshottableDir.java
@@ -51,8 +51,13 @@ public static void main(String[] argv) throws IOException {
     }
     DistributedFileSystem dfs = (DistributedFileSystem) fs;
     
-    SnapshottableDirectoryStatus[] stats = dfs.getSnapshottableDirListing();
-    SnapshottableDirectoryStatus.print(stats, System.out);
+    try {
+      SnapshottableDirectoryStatus[] stats = dfs.getSnapshottableDirListing();
+      SnapshottableDirectoryStatus.print(stats, System.out);
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      String[] content = e.getLocalizedMessage().split("\n");
+      System.err.println("lsSnapshottableDir: " + content[0]);
+    }
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/snapshot/SnapshotDiff.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/snapshot/SnapshotDiff.java
index 5a0b2038f3d..c130703cf1d 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/snapshot/SnapshotDiff.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/snapshot/SnapshotDiff.java
@@ -82,9 +82,14 @@ public static void main(String[] argv) throws IOException {
     Path snapshotRoot = new Path(argv[0]);
     String fromSnapshot = getSnapshotName(argv[1]);
     String toSnapshot = getSnapshotName(argv[2]);
-    SnapshotDiffReport diffReport = dfs.getSnapshotDiffReport(snapshotRoot,
-        fromSnapshot, toSnapshot);
-    System.out.println(diffReport.toString());
+    try {
+      SnapshotDiffReport diffReport = dfs.getSnapshotDiffReport(snapshotRoot,
+          fromSnapshot, toSnapshot);
+      System.out.println(diffReport.toString());
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      String[] content = e.getLocalizedMessage().split("\n");
+      System.err.println("snapshotDiff: " + content[0]);
+    }
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestNestedSnapshots.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestNestedSnapshots.java
index 0197608a6c1..a983098224d 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestNestedSnapshots.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestNestedSnapshots.java
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ public void testNestedSnapshots() throws Exception {
     try {
       hdfs.disallowSnapshot(rootPath);
       fail("Expect snapshot exception when disallowing snapshot on root again");
-    } catch (SnapshotException e) {
+    } catch (RemoteException e) {
       GenericTestUtils.assertExceptionContains(
           "Root is not a snapshottable directory", e);
     }
@@ -149,14 +149,16 @@ public void testNestedSnapshots() throws Exception {
     try {
       hdfs.allowSnapshot(rootPath);
       Assert.fail();
-    } catch(SnapshotException se) {
-      assertNestedSnapshotException(se, "subdirectory");
+    } catch(RemoteException se) {
+      assertNestedSnapshotException(
+          (SnapshotException) se.unwrapRemoteException(), "subdirectory");
     }
     try {
       hdfs.allowSnapshot(foo);
       Assert.fail();
-    } catch(SnapshotException se) {
-      assertNestedSnapshotException(se, "subdirectory");
+    } catch(RemoteException se) {
+      assertNestedSnapshotException(
+          (SnapshotException) se.unwrapRemoteException(), "subdirectory");
     }
 
     final Path sub1Bar = new Path(bar, "sub1");
@@ -165,14 +167,16 @@ public void testNestedSnapshots() throws Exception {
     try {
       hdfs.allowSnapshot(sub1Bar);
       Assert.fail();
-    } catch(SnapshotException se) {
-      assertNestedSnapshotException(se, "ancestor");
+    } catch(RemoteException se) {
+      assertNestedSnapshotException(
+          (SnapshotException) se.unwrapRemoteException(), "ancestor");
     }
     try {
       hdfs.allowSnapshot(sub2Bar);
       Assert.fail();
-    } catch(SnapshotException se) {
-      assertNestedSnapshotException(se, "ancestor");
+    } catch(RemoteException se) {
+      assertNestedSnapshotException(
+          (SnapshotException) se.unwrapRemoteException(), "ancestor");
     }
   }
   
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestSnapshotDeletion.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestSnapshotDeletion.java
index d14dd88087f..e795673fc07 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestSnapshotDeletion.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/snapshot/TestSnapshotDeletion.java
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ public void testDeleteDirectoryWithSnapshot() throws Exception {
 
     // Deleting a snapshottable dir with snapshots should fail
     exception.expect(RemoteException.class);
-    String error = "The direcotry " + sub.toString()
+    String error = "The directory " + sub.toString()
         + " cannot be deleted since " + sub.toString()
         + " is snapshottable and already has snapshots";
     exception.expectMessage(error);