diff --git a/common.c b/common.c
index a387b82ed..579b94b70 100644
--- a/common.c
+++ b/common.c
@@ -799,16 +799,75 @@ void die_mem()
 void debug( int level, wchar_t *msg, ... )
 {
 	va_list va;
-
+	string_buffer_t sb;
+	wchar_t *start, *pos;
+	int line_width = 0;
+	int tok_width = 0;
+	int screen_width = 80;
+	
 	if( level > debug_level )
 		return;
 
+	sb_init( &sb );
 	va_start( va, msg );
 	
-	fwprintf( stderr, L"%ls: ", program_name );
-	vfwprintf( stderr, msg, va );
+	sb_printf( &sb, L"%ls: ", program_name );
+	sb_vprintf( &sb, msg, va );
 	va_end( va );	
-	fwprintf( stderr, L"\n" );
+	
+	start = pos = (wchar_t *)sb.buff;
+	while( 1 )
+	{
+		int overflow = 0;
+		
+		tok_width=0;
+		
+		while( *pos && ( !wcschr( L" \n\r\t", *pos ) ) )
+		{
+			if((tok_width + wcwidth(*pos)) >= (screen_width-1))
+			{
+				overflow = 1;
+				break;
+				
+			}
+			
+			tok_width += wcwidth( *pos );
+			pos++;
+		}
+
+		if( pos == start )
+		{
+			start = pos = pos+1;
+		}
+		else if( overflow )
+		{
+			wchar_t *token = wcsndup( start, pos-start );
+			if( line_width != 0 )
+				putwc( L'\n', stderr );
+			fwprintf( stderr, L"%ls-\n", token );
+			free( token );
+			line_width=0;
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			wchar_t *token = wcsndup( start, pos-start );
+			if( (line_width + (line_width!=0?1:0) + tok_width) > screen_width )
+			{
+				putwc( L'\n', stderr );
+				line_width=0;
+			}
+			fwprintf( stderr, L"%ls%ls", line_width?L" ":L"", token );
+			free( token );
+			line_width += (line_width!=0?1:0) + tok_width;
+		}
+		
+		if( !*pos )
+			break;
+		
+		start=pos;
+	}
+	putwc( L'\n', stderr );
+	
 }
 
 wchar_t *escape( const wchar_t *in, 
diff --git a/util.c b/util.c
index 14e841bf2..7eb73ec31 100644
--- a/util.c
+++ b/util.c
@@ -872,6 +872,13 @@ void sb_append2( string_buffer_t *b, ... )
 int sb_printf( string_buffer_t *buffer, const wchar_t *format, ... )
 {
 	va_list va;
+	va_start( va, format );
+	sb_vprintf( buffer, format, va );	
+	va_end( va );	
+}
+
+int sb_vprintf( string_buffer_t *buffer, const wchar_t *format, va_list va_orig )
+{
 	int res;
 	
 	if( !buffer->length )
@@ -885,13 +892,16 @@ int sb_printf( string_buffer_t *buffer, const wchar_t *format, ... )
 
 	while( 1 )
 	{
+		va_list va;
+		va_copy( va, va_orig );
 		
-		va_start( va, format );
 		res = vswprintf( (wchar_t *)((char *)buffer->buff+buffer->used), 
 						 (buffer->length-buffer->used)/sizeof(wchar_t), 
 						 format,
 						 va );
 		
+
+		va_end( va );		
 		if( res >= 0 )
 		{
 			buffer->used+= res*sizeof(wchar_t);
@@ -919,7 +929,6 @@ int sb_printf( string_buffer_t *buffer, const wchar_t *format, ... )
 			die_mem();
 		buffer->length *= 2;				
 	}
-	va_end( va );	
 	return res;	
 }
 
diff --git a/util.h b/util.h
index f498811ea..7bbd39708 100644
--- a/util.h
+++ b/util.h
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #define FISH_UTIL_H
 
 #include <wchar.h>
+#include <stdarg.h>
 
 /**
    Data structure for an automatically resizing dynamically allocated queue,
@@ -442,6 +443,10 @@ void sb_append2( string_buffer_t *, ... );
 */
 int sb_printf( string_buffer_t *buffer, const wchar_t *format, ... );
 
+/**
+   Vararg version of sb_printf
+*/
+int sb_vprintf( string_buffer_t *buffer, const wchar_t *format, va_list va_orig );
 
 /**
   Destroy the buffer and free it's memory