diff --git a/lib/puppet/util/instrumentation.rb b/lib/puppet/util/instrumentation.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5981bea59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/puppet/util/instrumentation.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+require 'puppet/util/instrumentation/process_name'
+
+module Puppet::Util::Instrumentation
+
+  def instrument(title)
+    Puppet::Util::Instrumentation::ProcessName.instrument(title) do
+      yield
+    end
+  end
+  module_function :instrument
+
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/puppet/util/instrumentation/process_name.rb b/lib/puppet/util/instrumentation/process_name.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..370d29e2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/puppet/util/instrumentation/process_name.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+require 'puppet'
+require 'puppet/util/instrumentation'
+
+module Puppet::Util::Instrumentation
+  class ProcessName
+
+    # start scrolling when process name is longer than
+    SCROLL_LENGTH = 50
+
+    @active = false
+    class << self
+      attr_accessor :active, :reason
+    end
+
+    trap(:QUIT) do
+      active? ? disable : enable
+    end
+
+    def self.active?
+      !! @active
+    end
+
+    def self.enable
+      mutex.synchronize do
+        Puppet.info("Process Name instrumentation is enabled")
+        @active = true
+        @x = 0
+        setproctitle
+      end
+    end
+
+    def self.disable
+      mutex.synchronize do
+        Puppet.info("Process Name instrumentation is disabled")
+        @active = false
+        $0 = @oldname
+      end
+    end
+
+    def self.instrument(activity)
+      # inconditionnally start the scroller thread here
+      # because it doesn't seem possible to start a new thrad
+      # from the USR2 signal handler
+      @scroller ||= Thread.new do
+        loop do
+          scroll if active?
+          sleep 1
+        end
+      end
+
+      push_activity(Thread.current, activity)
+      yield
+    ensure
+      pop_activity(Thread.current)
+    end
+
+    def self.setproctitle
+      @oldname ||= $0
+      $0 = "#{base}: " + rotate(process_name,@x) if active?
+    end
+
+    def self.push_activity(thread, activity)
+      mutex.synchronize do
+        @reason ||= {}
+        @reason[thread] ||= []
+        @reason[thread].push(activity)
+        setproctitle
+      end
+    end
+
+    def self.pop_activity(thread)
+      mutex.synchronize do
+        @reason[thread].pop
+        if @reason[thread].empty?
+          @reason.delete(thread)
+        end
+        setproctitle
+      end
+    end
+
+    def self.process_name
+      out = (@reason || {}).inject([]) do |out, reason|
+        out << "#{thread_id(reason[0])} #{reason[1].join(',')}"
+      end
+      out.join(' | ')
+    end
+
+    # certainly non-portable
+    def self.thread_id(thread)
+      thread.inspect.gsub(/^#<.*:0x([a-f0-9]+) .*>$/, '\1')
+    end
+
+    def self.rotate(string, steps)
+      steps ||= 0
+      if string.length > 0 && steps > 0
+        steps = steps % string.length
+        return string[steps..string.length].concat " -- #{string[0..(steps-1)]}"
+      end
+      string
+    end
+
+    def self.base
+      basename = case Puppet.run_mode.name
+      when :master
+        "master"
+      when :agent
+        "agent"
+      else
+        "puppet"
+      end
+    end
+
+    def self.mutex
+      #Thread.exclusive {
+        @mutex ||= Sync.new
+      #}
+      @mutex
+    end
+
+    def self.scroll
+      return if process_name.length < SCROLL_LENGTH
+      mutex.synchronize do
+        setproctitle
+        @x += 1
+      end
+    end
+
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spec/unit/util/instrumentation/process_name_spec.rb b/spec/unit/util/instrumentation/process_name_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9cbedf2d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/unit/util/instrumentation/process_name_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,207 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
+
+require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../../../spec_helper'
+
+describe Puppet::Util::Instrumentation::ProcessName do
+
+  ProcessName = Puppet::Util::Instrumentation::ProcessName
+
+  after(:each) do
+    ProcessName.reason = {}
+  end
+
+  it "should be disabled by default" do
+    ProcessName.should_not be_active
+  end
+
+  describe "when managing thread activity" do
+    before(:each) do
+      ProcessName.stubs(:setproctitle)
+      ProcessName.stubs(:base).returns("base")
+    end
+
+    it "should be able to append activity" do
+      thread1 = stub 'thread1'
+      ProcessName.push_activity(:thread1,"activity1")
+      ProcessName.push_activity(:thread1,"activity2")
+
+      ProcessName.reason[:thread1].should == ["activity1", "activity2"]
+    end
+
+    it "should be able to remove activity" do
+      ProcessName.push_activity(:thread1,"activity1")
+      ProcessName.push_activity(:thread1,"activity1")
+      ProcessName.pop_activity(:thread1)
+
+      ProcessName.reason[:thread1].should == ["activity1"]
+    end
+
+    it "should maintain activity thread by thread" do
+      ProcessName.push_activity(:thread1,"activity1")
+      ProcessName.push_activity(:thread2,"activity2")
+
+      ProcessName.reason[:thread1].should == ["activity1"]
+      ProcessName.reason[:thread2].should == ["activity2"]
+    end
+
+    it "should set process title" do
+      ProcessName.expects(:setproctitle)
+
+      ProcessName.push_activity("thread1","activity1")
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "when computing the current process name" do
+      before(:each) do
+        ProcessName.stubs(:setproctitle)
+        ProcessName.stubs(:base).returns("base")
+      end
+
+      it "should include every running thread activity" do
+        thread1 = stub 'thread1', :inspect => "\#<Thread:0xdeadbeef run>", :hash => 1
+        thread2 = stub 'thread2', :inspect => "\#<Thread:0x12344321 run>", :hash => 0
+
+        ProcessName.push_activity(thread1,"Compiling node1.domain.com")
+        ProcessName.push_activity(thread2,"Compiling node4.domain.com")
+        ProcessName.push_activity(thread1,"Parsing file site.pp")
+        ProcessName.push_activity(thread2,"Parsing file node.pp")
+
+        ProcessName.process_name.should == "12344321 Compiling node4.domain.com,Parsing file node.pp | deadbeef Compiling node1.domain.com,Parsing file site.pp"
+      end
+  end
+
+  describe "when finding base process name" do
+      {:master => "master", :agent => "agent", :user => "puppet"}.each do |program,base|
+        it "should return #{base} for #{program}" do
+          Puppet.run_mode.stubs(:name).returns(program)
+          ProcessName.base.should == base
+        end
+      end
+  end
+
+  describe "when finding a thread id" do
+      it "should return the id from the thread inspect string" do
+        thread = stub 'thread', :inspect => "\#<Thread:0x1234abdc run>"
+        ProcessName.thread_id(thread).should == "1234abdc"
+      end
+  end
+
+  describe "when scrolling the instrumentation string" do
+      it "should rotate the string of various step" do
+        ProcessName.rotate("this is a rotation", 10).should == "rotation -- this is a "
+      end
+
+      it "should not rotate the string for the 0 offset" do
+        ProcessName.rotate("this is a rotation", 0).should == "this is a rotation"
+      end
+  end
+
+  describe "when setting process name" do
+    before(:each) do
+      ProcessName.stubs(:process_name).returns("12345 activity")
+      ProcessName.stubs(:base).returns("base")
+      @oldname = $0
+    end
+
+    after(:each) do
+      $0 = @oldname
+    end
+
+    it "should not do it if the feature is disabled" do
+      ProcessName.setproctitle
+
+      $0.should_not == "base: 12345 activity"
+    end
+
+    it "should do it if the feature is enabled" do
+      ProcessName.active = true
+      ProcessName.setproctitle
+
+      $0.should == "base: 12345 activity"
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "when setting a probe" do
+    before(:each) do
+      thread = stub 'thread', :inspect => "\#<Thread:0x1234abdc run>"
+      Thread.stubs(:current).returns(thread)
+      Thread.stubs(:new)
+      ProcessName.active = true
+    end
+
+    it "should start the scroller thread" do
+      Thread.expects(:new)
+      ProcessName.instrument("doing something") do
+      end
+    end
+
+    it "should push current thread activity and execute the block" do
+      ProcessName.instrument("doing something") do
+        $0.should == "puppet: 1234abdc doing something"
+      end
+    end
+
+    it "should finally pop the activity" do
+      ProcessName.instrument("doing something") do
+      end
+      $0.should == "puppet: "
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "when enabling" do
+    before do
+      Thread.stubs(:new)
+      ProcessName.stubs(:setproctitle)
+    end
+
+    it "should be active" do
+      ProcessName.enable
+      ProcessName.should be_active
+    end
+
+    it "should set the new process name" do
+      ProcessName.expects(:setproctitle)
+      ProcessName.enable
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "when disabling" do
+    it "should set active to false" do
+      ProcessName.active = true
+      ProcessName.disable
+      ProcessName.should_not be_active
+    end
+
+    it "should restore the old process name" do
+      oldname = $0
+      ProcessName.active = true
+      ProcessName.setproctitle
+      ProcessName.disable
+      $0.should == oldname
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "when scrolling" do
+    it "should do nothing for shorter process names" do
+      ProcessName.expects(:setproctitle).never
+      ProcessName.scroll
+    end
+
+    it "should call setproctitle" do
+      ProcessName.stubs(:process_name).returns("x" * 60)
+      ProcessName.expects(:setproctitle)
+      ProcessName.scroll
+    end
+
+    it "should increment rotation offset" do
+      name = "x" * 60
+      ProcessName.active = true
+      ProcessName.stubs(:process_name).returns(name)
+      ProcessName.expects(:rotate).once.with(name,1).returns("")
+      ProcessName.expects(:rotate).once.with(name,2).returns("")
+      ProcessName.scroll
+      ProcessName.scroll
+    end
+  end
+
+end
\ No newline at end of file