diff --git a/common/util.c b/common/util.c
index 518da2e8..267fd559 100644
--- a/common/util.c
+++ b/common/util.c
@@ -28,6 +28,22 @@
 #include <limits.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <errno.h>
+#include <time.h>
+
+const char *
+a_current_time_str(void)
+{
+    static char buffer[25];
+    time_t now;
+    struct tm tm;
+
+    time(&now);
+    localtime_r(&now, &tm);
+    if (!strftime(buffer, sizeof(buffer), "%Y-%m-%d %T ", &tm))
+        buffer[0] = '\0';
+
+    return buffer;
+}
 
 /** Print error and exit with EXIT_FAILURE code.
  */
@@ -37,7 +53,7 @@ _fatal(int line, const char *fct, const char *fmt, ...)
     va_list ap;
 
     va_start(ap, fmt);
-    fprintf(stderr, "E: awesome: %s:%d: ", fct, line);
+    fprintf(stderr, "%sE: awesome: %s:%d: ", a_current_time_str(), fct, line);
     vfprintf(stderr, fmt, ap);
     va_end(ap);
     fprintf(stderr, "\n");
@@ -51,7 +67,7 @@ _warn(int line, const char *fct, const char *fmt, ...)
 {
     va_list ap;
     va_start(ap, fmt);
-    fprintf(stderr, "W: awesome: %s:%d: ", fct, line);
+    fprintf(stderr, "%sW: awesome: %s:%d: ", a_current_time_str(), fct, line);
     vfprintf(stderr, fmt, ap);
     va_end(ap);
     fprintf(stderr, "\n");
diff --git a/common/util.h b/common/util.h
index af3c4d84..eaa9a58d 100644
--- a/common/util.h
+++ b/common/util.h
@@ -319,6 +319,8 @@ void _fatal(int, const char *, const char *, ...)
 void _warn(int, const char *, const char *, ...)
     __attribute__ ((format(printf, 3, 4)));
 
+const char *a_current_time_str(void);
+
 void a_exec(const char *);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/lib/awful/util.lua b/lib/awful/util.lua
index 665953f1..0b633cfb 100644
--- a/lib/awful/util.lua
+++ b/lib/awful/util.lua
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ local capi =
     awesome = awesome,
     mouse = mouse
 }
+local gears_debug = require("gears.debug")
 local floor = math.floor
 
 local util = {}
@@ -48,11 +49,11 @@ function util.deprecate(see)
     -- Get function name/desc from caller.
     local info = debug.getinfo(2, "n")
     local funcname = info.name or "?"
-    io.stderr:write("W: awful: function " .. funcname .. " is deprecated")
+    local msg = "awful: function " .. funcname .. " is deprecated"
     if see then
-        io.stderr:write(", see " .. see)
+        msg = msg .. ", see " .. see
     end
-    io.stderr:write(".\n" .. tb .. "\n")
+    gears_debug.print_warning(msg .. ".\n" .. tb)
 end
 
 --- Get a valid color for Pango markup
diff --git a/lib/beautiful/init.lua b/lib/beautiful/init.lua
index 0a1fc7cd..e3aee501 100644
--- a/lib/beautiful/init.lua
+++ b/lib/beautiful/init.lua
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ local capi =
     screen = screen,
     awesome = awesome
 }
+local gears_debug = require("gears.debug")
 
 local xresources = require("beautiful.xresources")
 
@@ -134,7 +135,7 @@ function beautiful.init(config)
         end
 
         if not success then
-            return print("E: beautiful: error loading theme file " .. theme)
+            return gears_debug.print_error("beautiful: error loading theme file " .. theme)
         elseif theme then
             -- expand '~'
             if homedir then
@@ -145,10 +146,10 @@ function beautiful.init(config)
 
             if theme.font then set_font(theme.font) end
         else
-            return print("E: beautiful: error loading theme file " .. config)
+            return gears_debug.print_error("beautiful: error loading theme file " .. config)
         end
     else
-        return print("E: beautiful: error loading theme: no theme specified")
+        return gears_debug.print_error("beautiful: error loading theme: no theme specified")
     end
 end
 
diff --git a/lib/beautiful/xresources.lua b/lib/beautiful/xresources.lua
index 1fb098ca..44ffb236 100644
--- a/lib/beautiful/xresources.lua
+++ b/lib/beautiful/xresources.lua
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 local print = print
 local awesome = awesome
 local round = require("awful.util").round
+local gears_debug = require("gears.debug")
 
 local xresources = {}
 
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ function xresources.get_current_theme()
     for _, key in ipairs(keys) do
         colors[key] = awesome.xrdb_get_value("", key)
         if not colors[key] then
-            print("W: beautiful: can't get colorscheme from xrdb (using fallback).")
+            gears_debug.print_warning("beautiful: can't get colorscheme from xrdb (using fallback).")
             return fallback
         end
     end
diff --git a/lib/gears/debug.lua b/lib/gears/debug.lua
index f36a8089..af323e2e 100644
--- a/lib/gears/debug.lua
+++ b/lib/gears/debug.lua
@@ -64,6 +64,18 @@ function debug.dump(data, tag, depth)
     print(debug.dump_return(data, tag, depth))
 end
 
+-- Print an warning message
+-- @tparam string message The warning message to print
+function debug.print_warning(message)
+    io.stderr:write(os.date("%Y-%m-%d %T W: ") .. tostring(message) .. "\n")
+end
+
+-- Print an error message
+-- @tparam string message The error message to print
+function debug.print_error(message)
+    io.stderr:write(os.date("%Y-%m-%d %T E: ") .. tostring(message) .. "\n")
+end
+
 return debug
 
 -- vim: filetype=lua:expandtab:shiftwidth=4:tabstop=8:softtabstop=4:textwidth=80
diff --git a/luaa.h b/luaa.h
index d098761f..cf519cdd 100644
--- a/luaa.h
+++ b/luaa.h
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ luaA_warn(lua_State *L, const char *fmt, ...)
 {
     va_list ap;
     luaL_where(L, 1);
-    fprintf(stderr, "%sW: ", lua_tostring(L, -1));
+    fprintf(stderr, "%s%sW: ", a_current_time_str(), lua_tostring(L, -1));
     lua_pop(L, 1);
     va_start(ap, fmt);
     vfprintf(stderr, fmt, ap);