diff --git a/libimagutil/Cargo.toml b/libimagutil/Cargo.toml
index 341d5aa1..6e442b18 100644
--- a/libimagutil/Cargo.toml
+++ b/libimagutil/Cargo.toml
@@ -4,5 +4,6 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 authors = ["Matthias Beyer <mail@beyermatthias.de>"]
 
 [dependencies]
+log = "0.3.5"
 regex = "0.1.47"
 
diff --git a/libimagutil/src/lib.rs b/libimagutil/src/lib.rs
index d26e1d7e..a7586143 100644
--- a/libimagutil/src/lib.rs
+++ b/libimagutil/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
+#[macro_use] extern crate log;
 extern crate regex;
 
 pub mod key_value_split;
+pub mod trace;
 pub mod variants;
diff --git a/libimagutil/src/trace.rs b/libimagutil/src/trace.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cdb65aa5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libimagutil/src/trace.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+use std::error::Error;
+use std::io::Write;
+use std::io::stderr;
+
+/// Print an Error type and its cause recursively
+///
+/// The error is printed with "Error NNNN :" as prefix, where "NNNN" is a number which increases
+/// which each recursion into the errors cause. The error description is used to visualize what
+/// failed and if there is a cause "-- caused by:" is appended, and the cause is printed on the next
+/// line.
+///
+/// Example output:
+///
+/// ```ignore
+/// Error    1 : Some error -- caused by:
+/// Error    2 : Some other error -- caused by:
+/// Error    3 : Yet another Error -- caused by:
+/// ...
+///
+/// Error <NNNN> : <Error description>
+/// ```
+pub fn trace_error(e: &Error) {
+    print_trace_maxdepth(count_error_causes(e), e, ::std::u64::MAX);
+    write!(stderr(), "");
+}
+
+/// Print an Error type and its cause recursively, but only `max` levels
+///
+/// Output is the same as for `trace_error()`, though there are only `max` levels printed.
+pub fn trace_error_maxdepth(e: &Error, max: u64) {
+    let n = count_error_causes(e);
+    write!(stderr(), "{}/{} Levels of errors will be printed", (if max > n { n } else { max }), n);
+    print_trace_maxdepth(n, e, max);
+    write!(stderr(), "");
+}
+
+/// Print an Error type and its cause recursively with the debug!() macro
+///
+/// Output is the same as for `trace_error()`.
+pub fn trace_error_dbg(e: &Error) {
+    print_trace_dbg(0, e);
+}
+
+/// Helper function for `trace_error()` and `trace_error_maxdepth()`.
+///
+/// Returns the cause of the last processed error in the recursion, so `None` if all errors where
+/// processed.
+fn print_trace_maxdepth(idx: u64, e: &Error, max: u64) -> Option<&Error> {
+    if e.cause().is_some() && idx > 0 {
+        print_trace_maxdepth(idx - 1, e.cause().unwrap(), max);
+        write!(stderr(), " -- caused:");
+    }
+    write!(stderr(), "Error {:>4} : {}", idx, e.description());
+    e.cause()
+}
+
+/// Count errors in Error::cause() recursively
+fn count_error_causes(e: &Error) -> u64 {
+    1 + if e.cause().is_some() { count_error_causes(e.cause().unwrap()) } else { 0 }
+}
+
+fn print_trace_dbg(idx: u64, e: &Error) {
+    debug!("Error {:>4} : {}", idx, e.description());
+    if e.cause().is_some() {
+        debug!(" -- caused by:");
+        print_trace_dbg(idx + 1, e.cause().unwrap());
+    }
+}
+