Index: trunk/packages/sipb-xen-www/code/main.py
===================================================================
--- trunk/packages/sipb-xen-www/code/main.py	(revision 597)
+++ trunk/packages/sipb-xen-www/code/main.py	(revision 598)
@@ -580,4 +580,8 @@
     return templates.unauth(searchList=[{'simple' : True}])
 
+def throwError(_, __, ___):
+    """Throw an error, to test the error-tracing mechanisms."""
+    raise RuntimeError("This is a test of the emergency broadcast system.")
+
 mapping = dict(list=listVms,
                vnc=vnc,
@@ -587,5 +591,6 @@
                create=create,
                help=helpHandler,
-               unauth=unauthFront)
+               unauth=unauthFront,
+               errortest=throwError)
 
 def printHeaders(headers):
@@ -595,4 +600,18 @@
     print
 
+def send_error_mail(subject, body):
+    import subprocess
+
+    to = 'xvm@mit.edu'
+    mail = """To: %s
+From: root@xvm.mit.edu
+Subject: %s
+
+%s
+""" % (to, subject, body)
+    p = subprocess.Popen(['/usr/sbin/sendmail', to], stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
+    p.stdin.write(mail)
+    p.stdin.close()
+    p.wait()
 
 def getUser(environ):
@@ -669,6 +688,13 @@
             self.start('500 Internal Server Error', [('Content-Type', 'text/plain')])
             import traceback
-            yield '''Uh-oh!  We experienced an error.'
-Please email xvm-dev@mit.edu with the contents of this page.'
+            send_error_mail('xvm error: %s' % (err,),
+                            '%s\n' % (traceback.format_exc(),))
+            yield '''Uh-oh!  We experienced an error.
+Sorry about that.  We've gotten mail about it.
+
+Feel free to poke us at xvm@mit.edu if this bug is
+consistently biting you and we don't seem to be fixing it.
+
+In case you're curious, the gory details are here.
 ----
 %s