diff --git a/boltons/excutils.py b/boltons/excutils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1175ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/boltons/excutils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,163 @@
+import sys
+import traceback
+import linecache
+from collections import namedtuple
+
+from pprint import pprint
+
+BaseTBItem = namedtuple('TBItem', 'filename, lineno, name, line')
+
+class TBItem(BaseTBItem):
+    def __repr__(self):
+        ret = super(TBItem, self).__repr__()
+        ret += ' <%r>' % self.frame_id
+        return ret
+
+class ExceptionCauseMixin(Exception):
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        cause = kwargs.pop('cause', None)
+        super(ExceptionCauseMixin, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+        self.cause = cause
+        if not cause:
+            return
+        if not isinstance(cause, Exception):
+            return  # TODO: use current exception instead?
+
+        try:
+            exc_type, exc_value, exc_tb = sys.exc_info()
+            if exc_value is cause:
+                #stack = getattr(cause, 'stack', None)
+                #if not stack:
+                stack = _extract_from_tb(exc_tb)
+                pprint(stack)
+                stack2 = _extract_from_frame(exc_tb.tb_frame)
+                pprint(stack2)
+                print
+        finally:
+            del exc_tb
+        if isinstance(cause, ExceptionCauseMixin):
+            import pdb;pdb.set_trace()
+
+#''.join(traceback.format_exception(exc_type,
+#                                   exc_value,
+#                                   exc_tb))
+        self.stack = stack
+        self.cause_type = type(cause)
+        self.cause_str = ''.join(
+            traceback.format_exception_only(self.cause_type, self.cause))
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        ret = self.__class__.__name__
+        try:
+            ret += ''.join([": ", self.cause_str, '\n', self.trace])
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass
+        super_str = super(ExceptionCauseMixin, self).__str__()
+        if super_str:
+            ret += "\n" + super_str
+        return ret
+
+
+class _DeferredLine(object):
+    def __init__(self, filename, lineno, module_globals=None):
+        self.filename = filename
+        self.lineno = lineno
+        module_globals = module_globals or {}
+        self.module_globals = dict([(k, v) for k, v in module_globals.items()
+                                    if k in ('__name__', '__loader__')])
+
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        return (self.lineno, self.filename) == (other.lineno, other.filename)
+
+    def __ne__(self, other):
+        return (self.lineno, self.filename) != (other.lineno, other.filename)
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        if hasattr(self, '_line'):
+            return self._line
+        linecache.checkcache(self.filename)
+        line = linecache.getline(self.filename,
+                                 self.lineno,
+                                 self.module_globals)
+        if line:
+            line = line.strip()
+        else:
+            line = None
+        self._line = line
+        return line
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return repr(str(self))
+
+    def __len__(self):
+        return len(str(self))
+
+    def strip(self):
+        return str(self).strip()
+
+
+def _extract_from_frame(f=None, limit=None):
+    ret = []
+    if f is None:
+        f = sys._getframe(1)  # cross-impl yadayada
+    if limit is None:
+        limit = getattr(sys, 'tracebacklimit', 1000)
+    n = 0
+    while f is not None and n < limit:
+        filename = f.f_code.co_filename
+        lineno = f.f_lineno
+        name = f.f_code.co_name
+        line = _DeferredLine(filename, lineno, f.f_globals)
+        item = TBItem(filename, lineno, name, line)
+        item.frame_id = id(f)
+        ret.append(item)
+        f = f.f_back
+        n += 1
+    ret.reverse()
+    return ret
+
+
+def _extract_from_tb(tb, limit=None):
+    ret = []
+    if limit is None:
+        limit = getattr(sys, 'tracebacklimit', 1000)
+    n = 0
+    while tb is not None and n < limit:
+        filename = tb.tb_frame.f_code.co_filename
+        lineno = tb.tb_lineno
+        name = tb.tb_frame.f_code.co_name
+        line = _DeferredLine(filename, lineno, tb.tb_frame.f_globals)
+        item = TBItem(filename, lineno, name, line)
+        item.frame_id = id(tb.tb_frame)
+        ret.append(item)
+        tb = tb.tb_next
+        n += 1
+    return ret
+
+
+class MathError(ExceptionCauseMixin):
+    pass
+
+
+def whoops_math():
+    try:
+        1/0
+    except ZeroDivisionError as zde:
+        exc = MathError(cause=zde)
+        raise exc
+
+def main():
+    try:
+        whoops_math()
+    except MathError as me:
+        exc = MathError(cause=me)
+    print str(exc)
+    import pdb;pdb.set_trace()
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    try:
+        main()
+    except:
+        import pdb;pdb.post_mortem()
+        raise