diff --git a/client/status.go b/client/status.go
index 6fef777..25ff014 100644
--- a/client/status.go
+++ b/client/status.go
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ type tui struct {
 	indent int
 
 	lock   sync.Mutex //For report and error
-	report map[string]job.Status
+	report map[string]*job.Status
 	err    error
 
 	jobFilter string
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ func runStatus(s *cli.Subcommand, args []string) error {
 	defer termbox.Close()
 
 	update := func() {
-		m := make(map[string]job.Status)
+		var m daemon.Status
 
 		err2 := jsonRequestResponse(httpc, daemon.ControlJobEndpointStatus,
 			struct{}{},
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ func runStatus(s *cli.Subcommand, args []string) error {
 
 		t.lock.Lock()
 		t.err = err2
-		t.report = m
+		t.report = m.Jobs
 		t.lock.Unlock()
 		t.draw()
 	}
diff --git a/daemon/control.go b/daemon/control.go
index f987ff9..7e84b6f 100644
--- a/daemon/control.go
+++ b/daemon/control.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/util/envconst"
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/version"
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs"
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs/zfscmd"
 )
 
 type controlJob struct {
@@ -117,7 +118,9 @@ func (j *controlJob) Run(ctx context.Context) {
 	mux.Handle(ControlJobEndpointStatus,
 		// don't log requests to status endpoint, too spammy
 		jsonResponder{log, func() (interface{}, error) {
-			s := j.jobs.status()
+			jobs := j.jobs.status()
+			globalZFS := zfscmd.GetReport()
+			s := Status{Jobs: jobs, Global: GlobalStatus{ZFSCmds: globalZFS}}
 			return s, nil
 		}})
 
diff --git a/daemon/daemon.go b/daemon/daemon.go
index 265ddc4..dc2304f 100644
--- a/daemon/daemon.go
+++ b/daemon/daemon.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/daemon/logging"
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/logger"
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/version"
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs/zfscmd"
 )
 
 func Run(conf *config.Config) error {
@@ -81,6 +82,9 @@ func Run(conf *config.Config) error {
 		jobs.start(ctx, job, true)
 	}
 
+	// register global (=non job-local) metrics
+	zfscmd.RegisterMetrics(prometheus.DefaultRegisterer)
+
 	log.Info("starting daemon")
 
 	// start regular jobs
@@ -128,6 +132,15 @@ func (s *jobs) wait() <-chan struct{} {
 	return ch
 }
 
+type Status struct {
+	Jobs   map[string]*job.Status
+	Global GlobalStatus
+}
+
+type GlobalStatus struct {
+	ZFSCmds *zfscmd.Report
+}
+
 func (s *jobs) status() map[string]*job.Status {
 	s.m.RLock()
 	defer s.m.RUnlock()
@@ -207,6 +220,7 @@ func (s *jobs) start(ctx context.Context, j job.Job, internal bool) {
 
 	s.jobs[jobName] = j
 	ctx = job.WithLogger(ctx, jobLog)
+	ctx = zfscmd.WithJobID(ctx, j.Name())
 	ctx, wakeup := wakeup.Context(ctx)
 	ctx, resetFunc := reset.Context(ctx)
 	s.wakeups[jobName] = wakeup
diff --git a/daemon/logging/build_logging.go b/daemon/logging/build_logging.go
index 7b46d59..1216a11 100644
--- a/daemon/logging/build_logging.go
+++ b/daemon/logging/build_logging.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/rpc/transportmux"
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/tlsconf"
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/transport"
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs/zfscmd"
 )
 
 func OutletsFromConfig(in config.LoggingOutletEnumList) (*logger.Outlets, error) {
@@ -79,6 +80,7 @@ const (
 	SubsysRPC          Subsystem = "rpc"
 	SubsysRPCControl   Subsystem = "rpc.ctrl"
 	SubsysRPCData      Subsystem = "rpc.data"
+	SubsysZFSCmd       Subsystem = "zfs.cmd"
 )
 
 func WithSubsystemLoggers(ctx context.Context, log logger.Logger) context.Context {
@@ -90,6 +92,7 @@ func WithSubsystemLoggers(ctx context.Context, log logger.Logger) context.Contex
 	ctx = hooks.WithLogger(ctx, log.WithField(SubsysField, SubsysHooks))
 	ctx = transport.WithLogger(ctx, log.WithField(SubsysField, SubsysTransport))
 	ctx = transportmux.WithLogger(ctx, log.WithField(SubsysField, SubsysTransportMux))
+	ctx = zfscmd.WithLogger(ctx, log.WithField(SubsysField, SubsysZFSCmd))
 	ctx = rpc.WithLoggers(ctx,
 		rpc.Loggers{
 			General: log.WithField(SubsysField, SubsysRPC),
diff --git a/zfs/encryption.go b/zfs/encryption.go
index 65ef1ab..8da07fc 100644
--- a/zfs/encryption.go
+++ b/zfs/encryption.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/util/envconst"
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs/zfscmd"
 )
 
 var encryptionCLISupport struct {
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ var encryptionCLISupport struct {
 func EncryptionCLISupported(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
 	encryptionCLISupport.once.Do(func() {
 		// "feature discovery"
-		cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "zfs", "load-key")
+		cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, "zfs", "load-key")
 		output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
 		if ee, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError); !ok || ok && !ee.Exited() {
 			encryptionCLISupport.err = errors.Wrap(err, "native encryption cli support feature check failed")
diff --git a/zfs/holds.go b/zfs/holds.go
index 89759a5..d5bb1f2 100644
--- a/zfs/holds.go
+++ b/zfs/holds.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
-	"os/exec"
 	"sort"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -15,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/util/envconst"
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs/zfscmd"
 )
 
 // no need for feature tests, holds have been around forever
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ func ZFSHold(ctx context.Context, fs string, v ZFSSendArgVersion, tag string) er
 		return err
 	}
 	fullPath := v.FullPath(fs)
-	output, err := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "zfs", "hold", tag, fullPath).CombinedOutput()
+	output, err := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, "zfs", "hold", tag, fullPath).CombinedOutput()
 	if err != nil {
 		if bytes.Contains(output, []byte("tag already exists on this dataset")) {
 			goto success
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ func ZFSHolds(ctx context.Context, fs, snap string) ([]string, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("`snap` must not be empty")
 	}
 	dp := fmt.Sprintf("%s@%s", fs, snap)
-	output, err := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "zfs", "holds", "-H", dp).CombinedOutput()
+	output, err := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, "zfs", "holds", "-H", dp).CombinedOutput()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, &ZFSError{output, errors.Wrap(err, "zfs holds failed")}
 	}
@@ -104,11 +104,13 @@ func ZFSRelease(ctx context.Context, tag string, snaps ...string) error {
 		}
 		args := []string{"release", tag}
 		args = append(args, snaps[i:j]...)
-		output, err := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "zfs", args...).CombinedOutput()
+		output, err := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, "zfs", args...).CombinedOutput()
 		if pe, ok := err.(*os.PathError); err != nil && ok && pe.Err == syscall.E2BIG {
 			maxInvocationLen = maxInvocationLen / 2
 			continue
 		}
+		// further error handling part of error scraper below
+
 		maxInvocationLen = maxInvocationLen + os.Getpagesize()
 		i = j
 
@@ -166,7 +168,7 @@ func doZFSReleaseAllOlderAndIncOrExcludingGUID(ctx context.Context, fs string, s
 		return fmt.Errorf("`tag` must not be empty`")
 	}
 
-	output, err := exec.CommandContext(ctx,
+	output, err := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx,
 		"zfs", "list", "-o", "type,name,createtxg,guid,userrefs",
 		"-H", "-t", "snapshot,bookmark", "-r", "-d", "1", fs).CombinedOutput()
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/zfs/placeholder.go b/zfs/placeholder.go
index db00ab3..0ffffa8 100644
--- a/zfs/placeholder.go
+++ b/zfs/placeholder.go
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 package zfs
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"crypto/sha512"
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"fmt"
-	"os/exec"
+
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs/zfscmd"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -82,21 +82,15 @@ func ZFSCreatePlaceholderFilesystem(ctx context.Context, p *DatasetPath) (err er
 	if p.Length() == 1 {
 		return fmt.Errorf("cannot create %q: pools cannot be created with zfs create", p.ToString())
 	}
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "create",
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "create",
 		"-o", fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", PlaceholderPropertyName, placeholderPropertyOn),
 		"-o", "mountpoint=none",
 		p.ToString())
 
-	stderr := bytes.NewBuffer(make([]byte, 0, 1024))
-	cmd.Stderr = stderr
-
-	if err = cmd.Start(); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	if err = cmd.Wait(); err != nil {
+	stdio, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+	if err != nil {
 		err = &ZFSError{
-			Stderr:  stderr.Bytes(),
+			Stderr:  stdio,
 			WaitErr: err,
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/zfs/resume_token.go b/zfs/resume_token.go
index 91f9299..5eb60cf 100644
--- a/zfs/resume_token.go
+++ b/zfs/resume_token.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/util/envconst"
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs/zfscmd"
 )
 
 // NOTE: Update ZFSSendARgs.Validate when changing fields (potentially SECURITY SENSITIVE)
@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@ var resumeSendSupportedCheck struct {
 func ResumeSendSupported(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
 	resumeSendSupportedCheck.once.Do(func() {
 		// "feature discovery"
-		cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "zfs", "send")
+		cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, "zfs", "send")
 		output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
 		if ee, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError); !ok || ok && !ee.Exited() {
 			resumeSendSupportedCheck.err = errors.Wrap(err, "resumable send cli support feature check failed")
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ func ResumeRecvSupported(ctx context.Context, fs *DatasetPath) (bool, error) {
 	}
 
 	if !sup.flagSupport.checked {
-		output, err := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "zfs", "receive").CombinedOutput()
+		output, err := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "receive").CombinedOutput()
 		upgradeWhile(func() {
 			sup.flagSupport.checked = true
 			if ee, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError); err != nil && (!ok || ok && !ee.Exited()) {
@@ -124,7 +125,7 @@ func ResumeRecvSupported(ctx context.Context, fs *DatasetPath) (bool, error) {
 	if poolSup, ok = sup.poolSupported[pool]; !ok || // shadow
 		(!poolSup.supported && time.Since(poolSup.lastCheck) > resumeRecvPoolSupportRecheckTimeout) {
 
-		output, err := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "zpool", "get", "-H", "-p", "-o", "value", "feature@extensible_dataset", pool).CombinedOutput()
+		output, err := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, "zpool", "get", "-H", "-p", "-o", "value", "feature@extensible_dataset", pool).CombinedOutput()
 		if err != nil {
 			debug("resume recv pool support check result: %#v", sup.flagSupport)
 			poolSup.supported = false
@@ -181,7 +182,7 @@ func ParseResumeToken(ctx context.Context, token string) (*ResumeToken, error) {
 	//	toname = pool1/test@b
 	//cannot resume send: 'pool1/test@b' used in the initial send no longer exists
 
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "send", "-nvt", string(token))
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "send", "-nvt", string(token))
 	output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
 	if err != nil {
 		if exitErr, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError); ok {
diff --git a/zfs/versions_destroy.go b/zfs/versions_destroy.go
index 7e6b513..ecc1908 100644
--- a/zfs/versions_destroy.go
+++ b/zfs/versions_destroy.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"syscall"
 
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/util/envconst"
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs/zfscmd"
 )
 
 func ZFSDestroyFilesystemVersion(ctx context.Context, filesystem *DatasetPath, version *FilesystemVersion) (err error) {
@@ -224,7 +225,7 @@ var batchDestroyFeatureCheck struct {
 func (d destroyerImpl) DestroySnapshotsCommaSyntaxSupported(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
 	batchDestroyFeatureCheck.once.Do(func() {
 		// "feature discovery"
-		cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "destroy")
+		cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "destroy")
 		output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
 		if _, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError); !ok {
 			debug("destroy feature check failed: %T %s", err, err)
diff --git a/zfs/zfs.go b/zfs/zfs.go
index 338fcba..67ea375 100644
--- a/zfs/zfs.go
+++ b/zfs/zfs.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/util/circlog"
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/util/envconst"
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs/zfscmd"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -172,13 +173,9 @@ func ZFSList(ctx context.Context, properties []string, zfsArgs ...string) (res [
 		"-o", strings.Join(properties, ","))
 	args = append(args, zfsArgs...)
 
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
-
-	var stdout io.Reader
-	stderr := bytes.NewBuffer(make([]byte, 0, 1024))
-	cmd.Stderr = stderr
-
-	if stdout, err = cmd.StdoutPipe(); err != nil {
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
+	stdout, stderrBuf, err := cmd.StdoutPipeWithErrorBuf()
+	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -205,7 +202,7 @@ func ZFSList(ctx context.Context, properties []string, zfsArgs ...string) (res [
 
 	if waitErr := cmd.Wait(); waitErr != nil {
 		err := &ZFSError{
-			Stderr:  stderr.Bytes(),
+			Stderr:  stderrBuf.Bytes(),
 			WaitErr: waitErr,
 		}
 		return nil, err
@@ -244,15 +241,12 @@ func ZFSListChan(ctx context.Context, out chan ZFSListResult, properties []strin
 		}
 	}
 
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
-	stdout, err := cmd.StdoutPipe()
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
+	stdout, stderrBuf, err := cmd.StdoutPipeWithErrorBuf()
 	if err != nil {
 		sendResult(nil, err)
 		return
 	}
-	// TODO bounded buffer
-	stderr := bytes.NewBuffer(make([]byte, 0, 1024))
-	cmd.Stderr = stderr
 	if err = cmd.Start(); err != nil {
 		sendResult(nil, err)
 		return
@@ -280,7 +274,7 @@ func ZFSListChan(ctx context.Context, out chan ZFSListResult, properties []strin
 	if err := cmd.Wait(); err != nil {
 		if err, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError); ok {
 			sendResult(nil, &ZFSError{
-				Stderr:  stderr.Bytes(),
+				Stderr:  stderrBuf.Bytes(),
 				WaitErr: err,
 			})
 		} else {
@@ -419,7 +413,7 @@ func pipeWithCapacityHint(capacity int) (r, w *os.File, err error) {
 }
 
 type sendStream struct {
-	cmd  *exec.Cmd
+	cmd  *zfscmd.Cmd
 	kill context.CancelFunc
 
 	closeMtx     sync.Mutex
@@ -836,7 +830,6 @@ func ZFSSend(ctx context.Context, sendArgs ZFSSendArgs) (*ReadCloserCopier, erro
 	args = append(args, sargs...)
 
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
 
 	// setup stdout with an os.Pipe to control pipe buffer size
 	stdoutReader, stdoutWriter, err := pipeWithCapacityHint(ZFSSendPipeCapacityHint)
@@ -844,11 +837,14 @@ func ZFSSend(ctx context.Context, sendArgs ZFSSendArgs) (*ReadCloserCopier, erro
 		cancel()
 		return nil, err
 	}
-
-	cmd.Stdout = stdoutWriter
-
 	stderrBuf := circlog.MustNewCircularLog(zfsSendStderrCaptureMaxSize)
-	cmd.Stderr = stderrBuf
+
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
+	cmd.SetStdio(zfscmd.Stdio{
+		Stdin:  nil,
+		Stdout: stdoutWriter,
+		Stderr: stderrBuf,
+	})
 
 	if err := cmd.Start(); err != nil {
 		cancel()
@@ -856,6 +852,7 @@ func ZFSSend(ctx context.Context, sendArgs ZFSSendArgs) (*ReadCloserCopier, erro
 		stdoutReader.Close()
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "cannot start zfs send command")
 	}
+	// close our writing-end of the pipe so that we don't wait for ourselves when reading from the reading  end
 	stdoutWriter.Close()
 
 	stream := &sendStream{
@@ -996,7 +993,7 @@ func ZFSSendDry(ctx context.Context, sendArgs ZFSSendArgs) (_ *DrySendInfo, err
 	}
 	args = append(args, sargs...)
 
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
 	output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, &ZFSError{output, err}
@@ -1115,24 +1112,26 @@ func ZFSRecv(ctx context.Context, fs string, v *ZFSSendArgVersion, streamCopier
 
 	ctx, cancelCmd := context.WithCancel(ctx)
 	defer cancelCmd()
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
-
-	stderr := bytes.NewBuffer(make([]byte, 0, 1024))
-	cmd.Stderr = stderr
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
 
 	// TODO report bug upstream
 	// Setup an unused stdout buffer.
 	// Otherwise, ZoL v0.6.5.9-1 3.16.0-4-amd64 writes the following error to stderr and exits with code 1
 	//   cannot receive new filesystem stream: invalid backup stream
 	stdout := bytes.NewBuffer(make([]byte, 0, 1024))
-	cmd.Stdout = stdout
+
+	stderr := bytes.NewBuffer(make([]byte, 0, 1024))
 
 	stdin, stdinWriter, err := pipeWithCapacityHint(ZFSRecvPipeCapacityHint)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	cmd.Stdin = stdin
+	cmd.SetStdio(zfscmd.Stdio{
+		Stdin:  stdin,
+		Stdout: stdout,
+		Stderr: stderr,
+	})
 
 	if err = cmd.Start(); err != nil {
 		stdinWriter.Close()
@@ -1142,7 +1141,7 @@ func ZFSRecv(ctx context.Context, fs string, v *ZFSSendArgVersion, streamCopier
 	stdin.Close()
 	defer stdinWriter.Close()
 
-	pid := cmd.Process.Pid
+	pid := cmd.Process().Pid
 	debug := func(format string, args ...interface{}) {
 		debug("recv: pid=%v: %s", pid, fmt.Sprintf(format, args...))
 	}
@@ -1230,7 +1229,7 @@ func ZFSRecvClearResumeToken(ctx context.Context, fs string) (err error) {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "recv", "-A", fs)
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "recv", "-A", fs)
 	o, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
 	if err != nil {
 		if bytes.Contains(o, []byte("does not have any resumable receive state to abort")) {
@@ -1280,18 +1279,11 @@ func zfsSet(ctx context.Context, path string, props *ZFSProperties) (err error)
 	}
 	args = append(args, path)
 
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
-
-	stderr := bytes.NewBuffer(make([]byte, 0, 1024))
-	cmd.Stderr = stderr
-
-	if err = cmd.Start(); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	if err = cmd.Wait(); err != nil {
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
+	stdio, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+	if err != nil {
 		err = &ZFSError{
-			Stderr:  stderr.Bytes(),
+			Stderr:  stdio,
 			WaitErr: err,
 		}
 	}
@@ -1414,7 +1406,7 @@ func (s zfsPropertySource) zfsGetSourceFieldPrefixes() []string {
 
 func zfsGet(ctx context.Context, path string, props []string, allowedSources zfsPropertySource) (*ZFSProperties, error) {
 	args := []string{"get", "-Hp", "-o", "property,value,source", strings.Join(props, ","), path}
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
 	stdout, err := cmd.Output()
 	if err != nil {
 		if exitErr, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError); ok {
@@ -1576,28 +1568,21 @@ func ZFSDestroy(ctx context.Context, arg string) (err error) {
 
 	defer prometheus.NewTimer(prom.ZFSDestroyDuration.WithLabelValues(dstype, filesystem))
 
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "destroy", arg)
-
-	var stderr bytes.Buffer
-	cmd.Stderr = &stderr
-
-	if err = cmd.Start(); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	if err = cmd.Wait(); err != nil {
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "destroy", arg)
+	stdio, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+	if err != nil {
 		err = &ZFSError{
-			Stderr:  stderr.Bytes(),
+			Stderr:  stdio,
 			WaitErr: err,
 		}
 
-		if destroyOneOrMoreSnapshotsNoneExistedErrorRegexp.Match(stderr.Bytes()) {
+		if destroyOneOrMoreSnapshotsNoneExistedErrorRegexp.Match(stdio) {
 			err = &DatasetDoesNotExist{arg}
-		} else if match := destroyBookmarkDoesNotExist.FindStringSubmatch(stderr.String()); match != nil && match[1] == arg {
+		} else if match := destroyBookmarkDoesNotExist.FindStringSubmatch(string(stdio)); match != nil && match[1] == arg {
 			err = &DatasetDoesNotExist{arg}
-		} else if dsNotExistErr := tryDatasetDoesNotExist(filesystem, stderr.Bytes()); dsNotExistErr != nil {
+		} else if dsNotExistErr := tryDatasetDoesNotExist(filesystem, stdio); dsNotExistErr != nil {
 			err = dsNotExistErr
-		} else if dserr := tryParseDestroySnapshotsError(arg, stderr.Bytes()); dserr != nil {
+		} else if dserr := tryParseDestroySnapshotsError(arg, stdio); dserr != nil {
 			err = dserr
 		}
 
@@ -1624,18 +1609,12 @@ func ZFSSnapshot(ctx context.Context, fs *DatasetPath, name string, recursive bo
 	if err := EntityNamecheck(snapname, EntityTypeSnapshot); err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "zfs snapshot")
 	}
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "snapshot", snapname)
 
-	stderr := bytes.NewBuffer(make([]byte, 0, 1024))
-	cmd.Stderr = stderr
-
-	if err = cmd.Start(); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	if err = cmd.Wait(); err != nil {
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "snapshot", snapname)
+	stdio, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+	if err != nil {
 		err = &ZFSError{
-			Stderr:  stderr.Bytes(),
+			Stderr:  stdio,
 			WaitErr: err,
 		}
 	}
@@ -1687,20 +1666,12 @@ func ZFSBookmark(ctx context.Context, fs string, v ZFSSendArgVersion, bookmark s
 
 	debug("bookmark: %q %q", snapname, bookmarkname)
 
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "bookmark", snapname, bookmarkname)
-
-	stderr := bytes.NewBuffer(make([]byte, 0, 1024))
-	cmd.Stderr = stderr
-
-	if err = cmd.Start(); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	if err = cmd.Wait(); err != nil {
-
-		if ddne := tryDatasetDoesNotExist(snapname, stderr.Bytes()); err != nil {
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, "bookmark", snapname, bookmarkname)
+	stdio, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+	if err != nil {
+		if ddne := tryDatasetDoesNotExist(snapname, stdio); err != nil {
 			return ddne
-		} else if zfsBookmarkExistsRegex.Match(stderr.Bytes()) {
+		} else if zfsBookmarkExistsRegex.Match(stdio) {
 
 			// check if this was idempotent
 			bookGuid, err := ZFSGetGUID(ctx, fs, "#"+bookmark)
@@ -1714,13 +1685,13 @@ func ZFSBookmark(ctx context.Context, fs string, v ZFSSendArgVersion, bookmark s
 			}
 			return &BookmarkExists{
 				fs: fs, bookmarkOrigin: v, bookmark: bookmark,
-				zfsMsg:   stderr.String(),
+				zfsMsg:   string(stdio),
 				bookGuid: bookGuid,
 			}
 
 		} else {
 			return &ZFSError{
-				Stderr:  stderr.Bytes(),
+				Stderr:  stdio,
 				WaitErr: err,
 			}
 		}
@@ -1742,18 +1713,11 @@ func ZFSRollback(ctx context.Context, fs *DatasetPath, snapshot FilesystemVersio
 	args = append(args, rollbackArgs...)
 	args = append(args, snapabs)
 
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
-
-	stderr := bytes.NewBuffer(make([]byte, 0, 1024))
-	cmd.Stderr = stderr
-
-	if err = cmd.Start(); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	if err = cmd.Wait(); err != nil {
+	cmd := zfscmd.CommandContext(ctx, ZFS_BINARY, args...)
+	stdio, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+	if err != nil {
 		err = &ZFSError{
-			Stderr:  stderr.Bytes(),
+			Stderr:  stdio,
 			WaitErr: err,
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/README.md b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..235b726
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+The tool in this package (`go run . -h`) scrapes log lines produces by the `github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs/zfscmd` package
+into a stream of JSON objects.
+
+The `analysis.ipynb` then runs some basic analysis on the collected log output.
+
+## Deps for the `scrape_graylog_csv.bash` script
+
+```
+pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/lk-jeffpeck/csvfilter.git@ec433f14330fbbf5d41f56febfeedac22868a949
+```
+
diff --git a/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/analysis.ipynb b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/analysis.ipynb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb1236b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/analysis.ipynb
@@ -0,0 +1,260 @@
+{
+ "cells": [
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "import pandas as pd\n",
+    "import seaborn as sns\n",
+    "import matplotlib.pyplot as plt\n",
+    "import re\n"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "# ./parsed.json is the stdout of the scraper tool in this directory\n",
+    "df = pd.read_json(\"./parsed.json\", lines=True)\n",
+    "df"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "def parse_ds(entity):\n",
+    "    m = re.search(r\"(?P<dataset>[^@#]*)([@#].+)?\", entity)\n",
+    "    return m.group(\"dataset\")\n",
+    "    \n",
+    "def parse_cmd(row):\n",
+    "    cmd  = row.Cmd\n",
+    "    binary, verb, *tail = re.split(r\"\\s+\", cmd) # NOTE whitespace in dataset names => don't use comp\n",
+    "    \n",
+    "    dataset = None\n",
+    "    if binary == \"zfs\":\n",
+    "        if verb == \"send\":      \n",
+    "            if len(tail) == 0:\n",
+    "                verb = \"send-feature-test\"\n",
+    "            else:\n",
+    "                dataset = parse_ds(tail[-1])\n",
+    "                if \"-n\" in tail:\n",
+    "                    verb = \"send-dry\"\n",
+    "        elif verb == \"recv\" or verb == \"receive\":\n",
+    "            verb = \"receive\"\n",
+    "            if len(tail) > 0:\n",
+    "                dataset = parse_ds(tail[-1])\n",
+    "            else:\n",
+    "                verb = \"receive-CLI-test\"\n",
+    "        elif verb == \"get\":\n",
+    "            dataset = parse_ds(tail[-1])\n",
+    "        elif verb == \"list\":\n",
+    "            if \"-r\" in tail and \"-d\" in tail and \"1\" in tail:\n",
+    "                dataset = parse_ds(tail[-1])\n",
+    "                verb = \"list-single-dataset\"\n",
+    "            else:\n",
+    "                dataset = \"!ALL_POOLS!\"\n",
+    "                verb = \"list-all-filesystems\"\n",
+    "        elif verb == \"bookmark\":\n",
+    "            dataset = parse_ds(tail[-2])\n",
+    "        elif verb == \"hold\":\n",
+    "            dataset = parse_ds(tail[-1])\n",
+    "        elif verb == \"snapshot\":\n",
+    "            dataset = parse_ds(tail[-1])\n",
+    "        elif verb == \"release\":\n",
+    "            dss = tail[-1].split(\",\")\n",
+    "            if len(dss) > 1:\n",
+    "                raise Exception(\"cannot handle batch-release\")\n",
+    "            dataset = parse_ds(dss[0])\n",
+    "        elif verb == \"holds\" and \"-H\" in tail:\n",
+    "            dss = tail[-1].split(\",\")\n",
+    "            if len(dss) > 1:\n",
+    "                raise Exception(\"cannot handle batch-holds\")\n",
+    "            dataset = parse_ds(dss[0])\n",
+    "        elif verb == \"destroy\":\n",
+    "            dss = tail[-1].split(\",\")\n",
+    "            if len(dss) > 1:\n",
+    "                raise Exception(\"cannot handle batch-holds\")\n",
+    "            dataset = parse_ds(dss[0])\n",
+    "    \n",
+    "    return {'action':binary + \"-\" + verb, 'dataset': dataset }\n",
+    "    \n",
+    "    \n",
+    "res = df.apply(parse_cmd, axis='columns', result_type='expand')\n",
+    "res = pd.concat([df, res], axis='columns')\n",
+    "for cat in [\"action\", \"dataset\"]:\n",
+    "    res[cat] = res[cat].astype('category')\n",
+    "\n",
+    "res[\"LogTimeUnix\"] = pd.to_datetime(res.LogTime)"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "res[\"OtherTime\"] = res.TotalTime - res.Usertime - res.Systime\n",
+    "x = res.melt(id_vars=[\"action\", \"dataset\"], value_vars=[\"TotalTime\", \"OtherTime\", \"Usertime\", \"Systime\"])\n",
+    "x"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "print(\"commands with NaN values\")\n",
+    "set(x[x.isna().any(axis=1)].action.values)"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "# (~x.action.astype('str').isin([\"zfs-send\", \"zfs-recv\"]))\n",
+    "totaltimes = x[(x.variable == \"TotalTime\")].groupby([\"action\", \"dataset\"]).sum().reset_index()\n",
+    "display(totaltimes)"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "totaltimes_by_action = totaltimes.groupby(\"action\").sum().sort_values(by=\"value\")\n",
+    "totaltimes_by_action.plot.barh()"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "totaltimes.groupby(\"dataset\").sum().plot.barh(fontsize=5)"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "most_expensive_action = totaltimes_by_action.idxmax().value\n",
+    "display(most_expensive_action)\n",
+    "most_expensive_action_by_dataset = totaltimes[totaltimes.action == most_expensive_action].groupby(\"dataset\").sum().sort_values(by=\"value\")\n",
+    "most_expensive_action_by_dataset.plot.barh(rot=50, fontsize=5, figsize=(10, 20))\n",
+    "plt.savefig('most-expensive-command.pdf')"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "res"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "# %matplotlib notebook \n",
+    "\n",
+    "# res.index = res.LogTimeUnix\n",
+    "\n",
+    "# resampled = res.pivot(columns='action', values='TotalTime').resample(\"1s\").sum()\n",
+    "# resampled.cumsum().plot()\n",
+    "# res[\"BeginTime\"] = res.LogTimeUnix.dt.total_seconds()\n",
+    "# holds = res[res.action == \"zfs-holds\"]\n",
+    "# sns.stripplot(x=\"LogTimeUnix\", y=\"action\", data=res)\n",
+    "# res[\"LogTimeUnix\"].resample(\"20min\").sum()\n",
+    "# res[res.action == \"zfs-holds\"].plot.scatter(x=\"LogTimeUnix\", y=\"TotalTime\")\n",
+    "\n",
+    "#res[res.action == \"zfs-holds\"].pivot(columns='action', values=['TotalTime', 'Systime', \"Usertime\"]).resample(\"1s\").sum().cumsum().plot()\n",
+    "pivoted = res.reset_index(drop=True).pivot_table(values=['TotalTime', 'Systime', \"Usertime\"], index=\"LogTimeUnix\", columns=\"action\")\n",
+    "pivoted"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "pivoted.cumsum()[[(\"TotalTime\", \"zfs-holds\"),(\"Systime\", \"zfs-holds\"),(\"Usertime\", \"zfs-holds\")]].plot()"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "pivoted = res.reset_index(drop=True).pivot_table(values=['TotalTime'], index=\"LogTimeUnix\", columns=\"action\")\n",
+    "cum_invocation_counts_per_action = pivoted.isna().astype(int).cumsum()"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "cum_invocation_counts_per_action"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "# zfs-get as reference value\n",
+    "cum_invocation_counts_per_action[[(\"TotalTime\",\"zfs-holds\"),(\"TotalTime\",\"zfs-get\")]].plot()"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": []
+  }
+ ],
+ "metadata": {
+  "kernelspec": {
+   "display_name": "Python 3",
+   "language": "python",
+   "name": "python3"
+  },
+  "language_info": {
+   "codemirror_mode": {
+    "name": "ipython",
+    "version": 3
+   },
+   "file_extension": ".py",
+   "mimetype": "text/x-python",
+   "name": "python",
+   "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
+   "pygments_lexer": "ipython3",
+   "version": "3.7.6"
+  }
+ },
+ "nbformat": 4,
+ "nbformat_minor": 2
+}
diff --git a/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/scrape_graylog_csv.bash b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/scrape_graylog_csv.bash
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..e348097
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/scrape_graylog_csv.bash
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# This script converts output that was produced by zrepl and captured by Graylog
+# back to something that the scraper in this package's main can understand
+# Intended for human syslog
+# logging:
+# - type: syslog
+#   level: debug
+#   format: human
+
+
+csvfilter --skip 1 -f 0,2 -q '"' --out-quotechar=' ' /dev/stdin | sed -E 's/^\s*([^,]*), /\1 [LEVEL]/' | \
+    go run . -v \
+    --dateRE '^([^\[]+) (\[.*)' \
+    --dateFormat '2006-01-02T15:04:05.999999999Z'
+
diff --git a/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/zfscmd_logging_scraper.go b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/zfscmd_logging_scraper.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d33f08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/zfscmd_logging_scraper.go
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/go-logfmt/logfmt"
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
+	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
+
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/daemon/logging"
+)
+
+type RuntimeLine struct {
+	LogTime                      time.Time
+	Cmd                          string
+	TotalTime, Usertime, Systime time.Duration
+	Error                        string
+}
+
+var humanFormatterLineRE = regexp.MustCompile(`^(\[[^\]]+\]){2}\[zfs.cmd\]:\s+command\s+exited\s+(with|without)\s+error\s+(.+)`)
+
+func parseSecs(s string) (time.Duration, error) {
+	d, err := time.ParseDuration(s + "s")
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, errors.Wrapf(err, "parse duration %q", s)
+	}
+	return d, nil
+}
+
+func parseHumanFormatterNodate(line string) (l RuntimeLine, err error) {
+	m := humanFormatterLineRE.FindStringSubmatch(line)
+	if m == nil {
+		return l, errors.New("human formatter regex does not match")
+	}
+
+	d := logfmt.NewDecoder(strings.NewReader(m[3]))
+	for d.ScanRecord() {
+		for d.ScanKeyval() {
+			k := string(d.Key())
+			v := string(d.Value())
+			switch k {
+			case "cmd":
+				l.Cmd = v
+			case "total_time_s":
+				l.TotalTime, err = parseSecs(v)
+			case "usertime_s":
+				l.Usertime, err = parseSecs(v)
+			case "systemtime_s":
+				l.Systime, err = parseSecs(v)
+			case "err":
+				l.Error = v
+			case "invocation":
+				continue // pass
+			default:
+				return l, errors.Errorf("unknown key %q", k)
+			}
+			if err != nil {
+				return l, err
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if d.Err() != nil {
+		return l, errors.Wrap(d.Err(), "decode key value pairs")
+	}
+	return l, nil
+}
+
+func parseLogLine(line string) (l RuntimeLine, err error) {
+	m := dateRegex.FindStringSubmatch(line)
+	if len(m) != 3 {
+		return l, errors.Errorf("invalid date regex match %v", m)
+	}
+	dateTrimmed := strings.TrimSpace(m[1])
+	date, err := time.Parse(dateFormat, dateTrimmed)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("cannot parse date %q: %s", dateTrimmed, err))
+	}
+	logLine := m[2]
+
+	l, err = parseHumanFormatterNodate(strings.TrimSpace(logLine))
+	l.LogTime = date
+	return l, err
+}
+
+var verbose bool
+var dateRegexArg string
+var dateRegex = regexp.MustCompile(`^([^\[]+)(.*)`)
+var dateFormat = logging.HumanFormatterDateFormat
+
+func main() {
+
+	pflag.StringVarP(&dateRegexArg, "dateRE", "d", "", "date regex")
+	pflag.StringVar(&dateFormat, "dateFormat", logging.HumanFormatterDateFormat, "go date format")
+	pflag.BoolVarP(&verbose, "verbose", "v", false, "verbose")
+	pflag.Parse()
+
+	if dateRegexArg != "" {
+		dateRegex = regexp.MustCompile(dateRegexArg)
+	}
+
+	input := bufio.NewScanner(os.Stdin)
+	input.Split(bufio.ScanLines)
+
+	enc := json.NewEncoder(os.Stdout)
+	for input.Scan() {
+
+		l, err := parseLogLine(input.Text())
+		if err != nil && verbose {
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "ignoring line after error %v\n", err)
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "offending line was: %s\n", input.Text())
+		}
+		if err == nil {
+			if err := enc.Encode(l); err != nil {
+				panic(err)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	if input.Err() != nil {
+		panic(input.Err())
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/zfscmd_logging_scrapter_test.go b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/zfscmd_logging_scrapter_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2bea1f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd-logging-scraper/zfscmd_logging_scrapter_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/daemon/logging"
+)
+
+func TestParseHumanFormatter(t *testing.T) {
+
+	type testCase struct {
+		Name      string
+		Input     string
+		Expect    *RuntimeLine
+		ExpectErr string
+	}
+
+	secs := func(s string) time.Duration {
+		d, err := parseSecs(s)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		return d
+	}
+
+	logTime, err := time.Parse(logging.HumanFormatterDateFormat, "2020-04-04T00:00:05+02:00")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	tcs := []testCase{
+		{
+			Name:  "human-formatter-noerror",
+			Input: `2020-04-04T00:00:05+02:00 [DEBG][jobname][zfs.cmd]: command exited without error usertime_s="0.008445" cmd="zfs list -H -p -o name -r -t filesystem,volume" systemtime_s="0.033783" invocation="84" total_time_s="0.037828619"`,
+			Expect: &RuntimeLine{
+				Cmd:       "zfs list -H -p -o name -r -t filesystem,volume",
+				TotalTime: secs("0.037828619"),
+				Usertime:  secs("0.008445"),
+				Systime:   secs("0.033783"),
+				Error:     "",
+				LogTime:   logTime,
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			Name:  "human-formatter-witherror",
+			Input: `2020-04-04T00:00:05+02:00 [DEBG][jobname][zfs.cmd]: command exited with error usertime_s="0.008445" cmd="zfs list -H -p -o name -r -t filesystem,volume" systemtime_s="0.033783" invocation="84" total_time_s="0.037828619" err="some error"`,
+			Expect: &RuntimeLine{
+				Cmd:       "zfs list -H -p -o name -r -t filesystem,volume",
+				TotalTime: secs("0.037828619"),
+				Usertime:  secs("0.008445"),
+				Systime:   secs("0.033783"),
+				Error:     "some error",
+				LogTime:   logTime,
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			Name:  "from graylog",
+			Input: `2020-04-04T00:00:05+02:00 [DEBG][csnas][zfs.cmd]:  command  exited  without  error  usertime_s="0"  cmd="zfs  send  -i  zroot/ezjail/synapse-12@zrepl_20200329_095518_000  zroot/ezjail/synapse-12@zrepl_20200329_102454_000"  total_time_s="0.101598591"  invocation="85"  systemtime_s="0.041581"`,
+			Expect: &RuntimeLine{
+				Cmd:       "zfs  send  -i  zroot/ezjail/synapse-12@zrepl_20200329_095518_000  zroot/ezjail/synapse-12@zrepl_20200329_102454_000",
+				TotalTime: secs("0.101598591"),
+				Systime:   secs("0.041581"),
+				Usertime:  secs("0"),
+				Error:     "",
+				LogTime:   logTime,
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, c := range tcs {
+		t.Run(c.Name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			l, err := parseLogLine(c.Input)
+			t.Logf("l=%v", l)
+			t.Logf("err=%T %v", err, err)
+			if (c.Expect != nil && c.ExpectErr != "") || (c.Expect == nil && c.ExpectErr == "") {
+				t.Fatal("bad test case", c)
+			}
+			if c.Expect != nil {
+				require.Equal(t, *c.Expect, l)
+			}
+			if c.ExpectErr != "" {
+				require.EqualError(t, err, c.ExpectErr)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd.go b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..544817a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd.go
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+// Package zfscmd provides a wrapper around packate os/exec.
+// Functionality provided by the wrapper:
+// - logging start and end of command execution
+// - status report of active commands
+// - prometheus metrics of runtimes
+package zfscmd
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"io"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/util/circlog"
+)
+
+type Cmd struct {
+	cmd                       *exec.Cmd
+	ctx                       context.Context
+	mtx                       sync.RWMutex
+	startedAt, waitReturnedAt time.Time
+}
+
+func CommandContext(ctx context.Context, name string, arg ...string) *Cmd {
+	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, name, arg...)
+	return &Cmd{cmd: cmd, ctx: ctx}
+}
+
+// err.(*exec.ExitError).Stderr will NOT be set
+func (c *Cmd) CombinedOutput() (o []byte, err error) {
+	c.startPre()
+	c.startPost(nil)
+	c.waitPre()
+	o, err = c.cmd.CombinedOutput()
+	c.waitPost(err)
+	return
+}
+
+// err.(*exec.ExitError).Stderr will be set
+func (c *Cmd) Output() (o []byte, err error) {
+	c.startPre()
+	c.startPost(nil)
+	c.waitPre()
+	o, err = c.cmd.Output()
+	c.waitPost(err)
+	return
+}
+
+// Careful: err.(*exec.ExitError).Stderr will not be set, even if you don't open an StderrPipe
+func (c *Cmd) StdoutPipeWithErrorBuf() (p io.ReadCloser, errBuf *circlog.CircularLog, err error) {
+	p, err = c.cmd.StdoutPipe()
+	errBuf = circlog.MustNewCircularLog(1 << 15)
+	c.cmd.Stderr = errBuf
+	return p, errBuf, err
+}
+
+type Stdio struct {
+	Stdin  io.ReadCloser
+	Stdout io.Writer
+	Stderr io.Writer
+}
+
+func (c *Cmd) SetStdio(stdio Stdio) {
+	c.cmd.Stdin = stdio.Stdin
+	c.cmd.Stderr = stdio.Stderr
+	c.cmd.Stdout = stdio.Stdout
+}
+
+func (c *Cmd) String() string {
+	return strings.Join(c.cmd.Args, " ") // includes argv[0] if initialized with CommandContext, that's the only way we o it
+}
+
+func (c *Cmd) log() Logger {
+	return getLogger(c.ctx).WithField("cmd", c.String())
+}
+
+func (c *Cmd) Start() (err error) {
+	c.startPre()
+	err = c.cmd.Start()
+	c.startPost(err)
+	return err
+}
+
+// only call this after a successful call to .Start()
+func (c *Cmd) Process() *os.Process {
+	if c.startedAt.IsZero() {
+		panic("calling Process() only allowed after successful call to Start()")
+	}
+	return c.cmd.Process
+}
+
+func (c *Cmd) Wait() (err error) {
+	c.waitPre()
+	err = c.cmd.Wait()
+	if !c.waitReturnedAt.IsZero() {
+		// ignore duplicate waits
+		return err
+	}
+	c.waitPost(err)
+	return err
+}
+
+func (c *Cmd) startPre() {
+	startPreLogging(c, time.Now())
+}
+
+func (c *Cmd) startPost(err error) {
+	now := time.Now()
+
+	c.mtx.Lock()
+	c.startedAt = now
+	c.mtx.Unlock()
+
+	startPostReport(c, err, now)
+	startPostLogging(c, err, now)
+}
+
+func (c *Cmd) waitPre() {
+	waitPreLogging(c, time.Now())
+}
+
+func (c *Cmd) waitPost(err error) {
+	now := time.Now()
+
+	c.mtx.Lock()
+	c.waitReturnedAt = now
+	c.mtx.Unlock()
+
+	waitPostReport(c, now)
+	waitPostLogging(c, err, now)
+	waitPostPrometheus(c, err, now)
+}
+
+// returns 0 if the command did not yet finish
+func (c *Cmd) Runtime() time.Duration {
+	if c.waitReturnedAt.IsZero() {
+		return 0
+	}
+	return c.waitReturnedAt.Sub(c.startedAt)
+}
diff --git a/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_context.go b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_context.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b087652
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_context.go
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+package zfscmd
+
+import (
+	"context"
+
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/logger"
+)
+
+type contextKey int
+
+const (
+	contextKeyLogger contextKey = iota
+	contextKeyJobID
+)
+
+type Logger = logger.Logger
+
+func WithJobID(ctx context.Context, jobID string) context.Context {
+	return context.WithValue(ctx, contextKeyJobID, jobID)
+}
+
+func getJobIDOrDefault(ctx context.Context, def string) string {
+	ret, ok := ctx.Value(contextKeyJobID).(string)
+	if !ok {
+		return def
+	}
+	return ret
+}
+
+func WithLogger(ctx context.Context, log Logger) context.Context {
+	return context.WithValue(ctx, contextKeyLogger, log)
+}
+
+func getLogger(ctx context.Context) Logger {
+	if l, ok := ctx.Value(contextKeyLogger).(Logger); ok {
+		return l
+	}
+	return logger.NewNullLogger()
+}
diff --git a/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_logging.go b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_logging.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..200f0a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_logging.go
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+package zfscmd
+
+import (
+	"time"
+)
+
+// Implementation Note:
+//
+// Pre-events logged with debug
+// Post-event without error logged with info
+// Post-events with error _also_ logged with info
+// (Not all errors we observe at this layer) are actual errors in higher-level layers)
+
+func startPreLogging(c *Cmd, now time.Time) {
+	c.log().Debug("starting command")
+}
+
+func startPostLogging(c *Cmd, err error, now time.Time) {
+	if err == nil {
+		c.log().Info("started command")
+	} else {
+		c.log().WithError(err).Error("cannot start command")
+	}
+}
+
+func waitPreLogging(c *Cmd, now time.Time) {
+	c.log().Debug("start waiting")
+}
+
+func waitPostLogging(c *Cmd, err error, now time.Time) {
+	log := c.log().
+		WithField("total_time_s", c.Runtime().Seconds()).
+		WithField("systemtime_s", c.cmd.ProcessState.SystemTime().Seconds()).
+		WithField("usertime_s", c.cmd.ProcessState.UserTime().Seconds())
+
+	if err == nil {
+		log.Info("command exited without error")
+	} else {
+		log.WithError(err).Info("command exited with error")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_platform_test.bash b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_platform_test.bash
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..cc4ba3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_platform_test.bash
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+echo "to stderr" 1>&2
+echo "to stdout"
+
+exit "$1"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_platform_test.go b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_platform_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..982e32e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_platform_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+package zfscmd
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"io"
+	"os/exec"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+const testBin = "./zfscmd_platform_test.bash"
+
+func TestCmdStderrBehaviorOutput(t *testing.T) {
+
+	stdout, err := exec.Command(testBin, "0").Output()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, []byte("to stdout\n"), stdout)
+
+	stdout, err = exec.Command(testBin, "1").Output()
+	assert.Equal(t, []byte("to stdout\n"), stdout)
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	ee, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError)
+	require.True(t, ok)
+	require.Equal(t, ee.Stderr, []byte("to stderr\n"))
+}
+
+func TestCmdStderrBehaviorCombinedOutput(t *testing.T) {
+
+	stdio, err := exec.Command(testBin, "0").CombinedOutput()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, "to stderr\nto stdout\n", string(stdio))
+
+	stdio, err = exec.Command(testBin, "1").CombinedOutput()
+	require.Equal(t, "to stderr\nto stdout\n", string(stdio))
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	ee, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError)
+	require.True(t, ok)
+	require.Empty(t, ee.Stderr) // !!!! maybe not what one would expect
+}
+
+func TestCmdStderrBehaviorStdoutPipe(t *testing.T) {
+	cmd := exec.Command(testBin, "1")
+	stdoutPipe, err := cmd.StdoutPipe()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	err = cmd.Start()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	defer cmd.Wait()
+	var stdout bytes.Buffer
+	_, err = io.Copy(&stdout, stdoutPipe)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, "to stdout\n", stdout.String())
+
+	err = cmd.Wait()
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	ee, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError)
+	require.True(t, ok)
+	require.Empty(t, ee.Stderr) // !!!!! probably not what one would expect if we only redirect stdout
+}
diff --git a/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_prometheus.go b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_prometheus.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f68e998
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_prometheus.go
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+package zfscmd
+
+import (
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
+)
+
+var metrics struct {
+	totaltime  *prometheus.HistogramVec
+	systemtime *prometheus.HistogramVec
+	usertime   *prometheus.HistogramVec
+}
+
+var timeLabels = []string{"jobid", "zfsbinary", "zfsverb"}
+var timeBuckets = []float64{0.01, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 2, 5, 10, 60}
+
+func init() {
+	metrics.totaltime = prometheus.NewHistogramVec(prometheus.HistogramOpts{
+		Namespace: "zrepl",
+		Subsystem: "zfscmd",
+		Name:      "runtime",
+		Help:      "number of seconds that the command took from start until wait returned",
+		Buckets:   timeBuckets,
+	}, timeLabels)
+	metrics.systemtime = prometheus.NewHistogramVec(prometheus.HistogramOpts{
+		Namespace: "zrepl",
+		Subsystem: "zfscmd",
+		Name:      "systemtime",
+		Help:      "https://golang.org/pkg/os/#ProcessState.SystemTime",
+		Buckets:   timeBuckets,
+	}, timeLabels)
+	metrics.usertime = prometheus.NewHistogramVec(prometheus.HistogramOpts{
+		Namespace: "zrepl",
+		Subsystem: "zfscmd",
+		Name:      "usertime",
+		Help:      "https://golang.org/pkg/os/#ProcessState.UserTime",
+		Buckets:   timeBuckets,
+	}, timeLabels)
+
+}
+
+func RegisterMetrics(r prometheus.Registerer) {
+	r.MustRegister(metrics.totaltime)
+	r.MustRegister(metrics.systemtime)
+	r.MustRegister(metrics.usertime)
+}
+
+func waitPostPrometheus(c *Cmd, err error, now time.Time) {
+
+	if len(c.cmd.Args) < 2 {
+		getLogger(c.ctx).WithField("args", c.cmd.Args).
+			Warn("prometheus: cannot turn zfs command into metric")
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Note: do not start parsing other aspects
+	// of the ZFS command line. This is not the suitable layer
+	// for such a task.
+
+	jobid := getJobIDOrDefault(c.ctx, "_nojobid")
+
+	labelValues := []string{jobid, c.cmd.Args[0], c.cmd.Args[1]}
+
+	metrics.totaltime.
+		WithLabelValues(labelValues...).
+		Observe(c.Runtime().Seconds())
+	metrics.systemtime.WithLabelValues(labelValues...).
+		Observe(c.cmd.ProcessState.SystemTime().Seconds())
+	metrics.usertime.WithLabelValues(labelValues...).
+		Observe(c.cmd.ProcessState.UserTime().Seconds())
+
+}
diff --git a/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_report.go b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_report.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..abd7b4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/zfscmd/zfscmd_report.go
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+package zfscmd
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"sync"
+	"time"
+)
+
+type Report struct {
+	Active []ActiveCommand
+}
+
+type ActiveCommand struct {
+	Path      string
+	Args      []string
+	StartedAt time.Time
+}
+
+func GetReport() *Report {
+	active.mtx.RLock()
+	defer active.mtx.RUnlock()
+	var activeCommands []ActiveCommand
+	for c := range active.cmds {
+		c.mtx.RLock()
+		activeCommands = append(activeCommands, ActiveCommand{
+			Path:      c.cmd.Path,
+			Args:      c.cmd.Args,
+			StartedAt: c.startedAt,
+		})
+		c.mtx.RUnlock()
+	}
+	return &Report{
+		Active: activeCommands,
+	}
+}
+
+var active struct {
+	mtx  sync.RWMutex
+	cmds map[*Cmd]bool
+}
+
+func init() {
+	active.cmds = make(map[*Cmd]bool)
+}
+
+func startPostReport(c *Cmd, err error, now time.Time) {
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	active.mtx.Lock()
+	prev := active.cmds[c]
+	if prev {
+		panic("impl error: duplicate active command")
+	}
+	active.cmds[c] = true
+	active.mtx.Unlock()
+}
+
+func waitPostReport(c *Cmd, now time.Time) {
+	active.mtx.Lock()
+	defer active.mtx.Unlock()
+	prev := active.cmds[c]
+	if !prev {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("impl error: onWaitDone must only be called on an active command: %s", c))
+	}
+	delete(active.cmds, c)
+}