python - Adding information to an exception?

Question

I want to achieve something like this:

def foo():
   try:
       raise IOError('Stuff ')
   except:
       raise

def bar(arg1):
    try:
       foo()
    except Exception as e:
       e.message = e.message + 'happens at %s' % arg1
       raise

bar('arg1')

Traceback...
  IOError('Stuff Happens at arg1')

But what I get is:

Traceback..
  IOError('Stuff')

Any clues as to how to achieve this? How to do it both in Python 2 and 3?

Answer 1

In case you came here searching for a solution for Python 3 the manual says:

When raising a new exception (rather than using a bare raise to re-raise the exception currently being handled), the implicit exception context can be supplemented with an explicit cause by using from with raise:

raise new_exc from original_exc

---

Example:

try:
    return [permission() for permission in self.permission_classes]
except TypeError as e:
    raise TypeError("Make sure your view's 'permission_classes' are iterable. "
                    "If you use '()' to generate a set with a single element "
                    "make sure that there is a comma behind the one (element,).") from e

Which looks like this in the end:

2017-09-06 16:50:14,797 [ERROR] django.request: Internal Server Error: /v1/sendEmail/
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "venv/lib/python3.4/site-packages/rest_framework/views.py", line 275, in get_permissions
    return [permission() for permission in self.permission_classes]
TypeError: 'type' object is not iterable 

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
    # Traceback removed...
TypeError: Make sure your view's Permission_classes are iterable. If 
     you use parens () to generate a set with a single element make 
     sure that there is a (comma,) behind the one element.

Turning a totally nondescript TypeError into a nice message with hints towards a solution without messing up the original Exception.