diff --git a/include/sys/cmn_err.h b/include/sys/cmn_err.h
index 44ccefc9f1..c76e4f465c 100644
--- a/include/sys/cmn_err.h
+++ b/include/sys/cmn_err.h
@@ -1,4 +1,16 @@
 #ifndef _SPL_CMN_ERR_H
 #define _SPL_CMN_ERR_H
 
+#include <sys/varargs.h>
+
+#define CE_CONT         0       /* continuation         */
+#define CE_NOTE         1       /* notice               */
+#define CE_WARN         2       /* warning              */
+#define CE_PANIC        3       /* panic                */
+#define CE_IGNORE       4       /* print nothing        */
+
+extern void cmn_err(int, const char *, ...);
+extern void vcmn_err(int, const char *, __va_list);
+extern void vpanic(const char *, __va_list);
+
 #endif /* SPL_CMN_ERR_H */
diff --git a/include/sys/sysmacros.h b/include/sys/sysmacros.h
index b65a5797c2..08d0e19711 100644
--- a/include/sys/sysmacros.h
+++ b/include/sys/sysmacros.h
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #endif
 
 #include <linux/module.h>
+#include <sys/varargs.h>
 
 #ifndef _KERNEL
 #define _KERNEL                         __KERNEL__
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #define NBBY                            8
 #define ENOTSUP                         ENOTSUPP
 
+#define MAXMSGLEN			256
 #define MAXNAMELEN                      256
 #define MAXPATHLEN                      PATH_MAX
 #define MAXOFFSET_T			0x7fffffffffffffffl
@@ -36,7 +38,6 @@ extern "C" {
 #define DEV_BSIZE			512
 #define DEV_BSHIFT			9 /* log2(DEV_BSIZE) */
 
-#define __va_list                       va_list
 #define max_ncpus                       64
 #define _NOTE(x)
 
diff --git a/include/sys/varargs.h b/include/sys/varargs.h
index 5a54443609..056967eaae 100644
--- a/include/sys/varargs.h
+++ b/include/sys/varargs.h
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 #ifndef _SPL_VARARGS_H
 #define _SPL_VARARGS_H
 
+#define __va_list                       va_list
+
 #endif /* SPL_VARARGS_H */
diff --git a/modules/spl/Makefile.in b/modules/spl/Makefile.in
index 667858aa93..1d152e61b3 100644
--- a/modules/spl/Makefile.in
+++ b/modules/spl/Makefile.in
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ spl-objs += spl-thread.o
 spl-objs += spl-taskq.o
 spl-objs += spl-rwlock.o
 spl-objs += spl-vnode.o
+spl-objs += spl-err.o
 spl-objs += spl-generic.o
 
 splmodule := spl.ko
diff --git a/modules/spl/spl-err.c b/modules/spl/spl-err.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6641ff034d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/spl/spl-err.c
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#include <sys/sysmacros.h>
+#include <sys/cmn_err.h>
+#include "config.h"
+
+static char ce_prefix[CE_IGNORE][10] = { "", "NOTICE: ", "WARNING: ", "" };
+static char ce_suffix[CE_IGNORE][2] = { "", "\n", "\n", "" };
+
+void
+vpanic(const char *fmt, va_list ap)
+{
+	char msg[MAXMSGLEN];
+
+	vsnprintf(msg, MAXMSGLEN - 1, fmt, ap);
+	panic(msg);
+} /* vpanic() */
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(vpanic);
+
+void
+cmn_err(int ce, const char *fmt, ...)
+{
+	char msg[MAXMSGLEN];
+	va_list ap;
+
+	va_start(ap, fmt);
+	vsnprintf(msg, MAXMSGLEN - 1, fmt, ap);
+	va_end(ap);
+
+	printk("%s", msg);
+} /* cmn_err() */
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(cmn_err);
+
+void
+vcmn_err(int ce, const char *fmt, va_list ap)
+{
+	char msg[MAXMSGLEN];
+
+        if (ce == CE_PANIC)
+                vpanic(fmt, ap);
+
+        if (ce != CE_NOTE) { /* suppress noise in stress testing */
+		vsnprintf(msg, MAXMSGLEN - 1, fmt, ap);
+		printk("%s%s%s", ce_prefix[ce], msg, ce_suffix[ce]);
+        }
+} /* vcmn_err() */
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(vcmn_err);