diff --git a/src/commands.py b/src/commands.py
index 45531d322..f1ec2ded6 100644
--- a/src/commands.py
+++ b/src/commands.py
@@ -69,6 +69,43 @@ def thread(f):
             f(self, irc, msg, args, *L, **kwargs)
     return utils.python.changeFunctionName(newf, f.func_name, f.__doc__)
 
+class ProcessTimeoutError(Exception):
+    """Gets raised when a process is killed due to timeout."""
+    pass
+
+def process(f, *args, **kwargs):
+    """Runs a function <f> in a subprocess.
+    
+    Several extra keyword arguments can be supplied. 
+    <pn>, the pluginname, and <cn>, the command name, are strings used to
+    create the process name, for identification purposes.
+    <timeout>, if supplied, limits the length of execution of target 
+    function to <timeout> seconds."""
+    timeout = kwargs.pop('timeout', None)
+    
+    q = multiprocessing.Queue()
+    def newf(f, q, *args, **kwargs):
+        try:
+            r = f(*args, **kwargs)
+            q.put(r)
+        except Exception as e:
+            q.put(e)
+    targetArgs = (f, q,) + args
+    p = callbacks.CommandProcess(target=newf,
+                                args=targetArgs, kwargs=kwargs)
+    p.start()
+    p.join(timeout)
+    if p.is_alive():
+        p.terminate()
+        raise ProcessTimeoutError, "%s aborted due to timeout." % (p.name,)
+    try:
+        v = q.get(block=False)
+    except Queue.Empty:
+        v = "Nothing returned."
+    if isinstance(v, Exception):
+        v = "Error: " + str(v)
+    return v
+
 class UrlSnarfThread(world.SupyThread):
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         assert 'url' in kwargs
diff --git a/src/version.py b/src/version.py
index c61e38303..1915fcd35 100644
--- a/src/version.py
+++ b/src/version.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 """stick the various versioning attributes in here, so we only have to change
 them once."""
-version = '0.83.4.1+limnoria (2011-08-12T18:51:40+0200)'
+version = '0.83.4.1+limnoria (2011-08-13T01:53:58+0200)'