diff --git a/include/ircd/util/util.h b/include/ircd/util/util.h
index be24a2c7f..cead68895 100644
--- a/include/ircd/util/util.h
+++ b/include/ircd/util/util.h
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ namespace ircd
 #include "pointers.h"
 #include "iterator.h"
 #include "nothrow.h"
+#include "what.h"
 
 // Unsorted section
 namespace ircd {
@@ -220,25 +221,5 @@ is_powerof2(const long long v)
 	return v && !(v & (v - 1LL));
 }
 
-/// Get what() from exception_ptr
-///
-inline ircd::string_view
-what(const std::exception_ptr &eptr)
-try
-{
-	if(likely(eptr))
-		std::rethrow_exception(eptr);
-
-	return {};
-}
-catch(const std::exception &e)
-{
-	return e.what();
-}
-catch(...)
-{
-	return {};
-}
-
 } // namespace util
 } // namespace ircd
diff --git a/include/ircd/util/what.h b/include/ircd/util/what.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5d9d0e898
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/ircd/util/what.h
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+// Matrix Construct
+//
+// Copyright (C) Matrix Construct Developers, Authors & Contributors
+// Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Jason Volk <jason@zemos.net>
+//
+// Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any
+// purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
+// copyright notice and this permission notice is present in all copies. The
+// full license for this software is available in the LICENSE file.
+
+#pragma once
+#define HAVE_IRCD_UTIL_WHAT_H
+
+namespace ircd::util
+{
+	string_view what(const std::exception_ptr eptr = std::current_exception()) noexcept;
+}
+
+/// Get what() from exception_ptr
+///
+inline ircd::string_view
+ircd::util::what(const std::exception_ptr eptr)
+noexcept try
+{
+	if(likely(eptr))
+		std::rethrow_exception(eptr);
+
+	return {};
+}
+catch(const std::exception &e)
+{
+	return e.what();
+}
+catch(...)
+{
+	return {};
+}