diff --git a/helpers.inc.php b/helpers.inc.php
index 131dddc..f9394de 100644
--- a/helpers.inc.php
+++ b/helpers.inc.php
@@ -377,7 +377,7 @@ function shell($cmd, &$out=null)
 {
   shell_try($cmd, $ret, $out);
   if($ret != 0)
-    throw new TaskmanException("Shell execution error(exit code $ret)");
+    throw new Exception("Shell execution error(exit code $ret)");
 }
 
 function shell_try($cmd, &$ret=null, &$out=null)
@@ -391,6 +391,14 @@ function shell_try($cmd, &$ret=null, &$out=null)
     _execute_proc_cmd($cmd, $ret, $out);
 }
 
+function shell_get($cmd, $as_string = true)
+{
+  exec($cmd, $out, $code);
+  if($code !== 0)
+    throw new Exception("Error($code) executing shell cmd '$cmd'");
+  return $as_string ? implode("", $out) : $out;
+}
+
 function _execute_proc_cmd($cmd, &$ret, &$out)
 {
   //TODO: do we really need to redirect error stream?