diff --git a/WINGs/ChangeLog b/WINGs/ChangeLog
index 8e548d9d..2b2a83ca 100644
--- a/WINGs/ChangeLog
+++ b/WINGs/ChangeLog
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@ changes since wmaker 0.61.1:
     2. if new_size is 0, call wfree(old), and return NULL.
     3. if both old is a valid pointer and new_size>0, call realloc.
 - added wstrerror(int errnum) to return the string associated with errnum.
+- added a global var WErrorCode which can hold various error codes
+  (similar to errno or RErrorCode).
+- new wsyserrorwithcode(int error, const char* fmt, ...), similar to 
+  wsyserror(), but printing the message for the specified error code.
 
 changes since wmaker 0.61.0:
 ............................
diff --git a/WINGs/WUtil.h b/WINGs/WUtil.h
index 066d8f62..ab9c9a76 100644
--- a/WINGs/WUtil.h
+++ b/WINGs/WUtil.h
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ char *wstrerror(int errnum);
 void wfatal(const char *msg, ...);
 void wwarning(const char *msg, ...);
 void wsyserror(const char *msg, ...);
+void wsyserrorwithcode(int error, const char *msg, ...);
 
 char *wfindfile(char *paths, char *file);
 
@@ -359,6 +360,13 @@ proplist_t WMGetUDSearchList(WMUserDefaults *database);
 
 void WMSetUDSearchList(WMUserDefaults *database, proplist_t list);
 
+
+/****** Global Variables *******/
+
+extern int WErrorCode;
+
+
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif /* __cplusplus */
diff --git a/WINGs/error.c b/WINGs/error.c
index ab5e0c0d..4e0e7aca 100644
--- a/WINGs/error.c
+++ b/WINGs/error.c
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@
 
 extern char *_WINGS_progname;
 
+int WErrorCode = 0;
+
+
+
 #define MAXLINE	1024
 
 
@@ -142,3 +146,33 @@ wsyserror(const char *msg, ...)
     va_end(args);
 }
 
+
+/*********************************************************************
+ * Prints a system error message with variable arguments, being given
+ * the error code.
+ * 
+ * error - the error code foe which to print the message
+ * msg   - message to print with optional formatting
+ * ...   - arguments to use on formatting
+ *********************************************************************/
+void 
+wsyserrorwithcode(int error, const char *msg, ...)
+{
+    va_list args;
+    char buf[MAXLINE];
+
+    va_start(args, msg);
+    vsprintf(buf, msg, args);
+    fflush(stdout);
+    fputs(_WINGS_progname, stderr);
+    fputs(" error: ", stderr);
+    strcat(buf, ": ");
+    strcat(buf, wstrerror(error));
+    strcat(buf,"\n");
+    fputs(buf, stderr);
+    fflush(stderr);
+    fflush(stdout);
+    va_end(args);
+}
+
+