diff -r c96d5729a485 Lib/subprocess.py
--- a/Lib/subprocess.py	Sat Mar 17 13:34:13 2012 +0100
+++ b/Lib/subprocess.py	Tue Apr 03 23:08:58 2012 +0200
@@ -361,6 +361,7 @@
     check_output() will also store the output in the output attribute.
     """
     def __init__(self, returncode, cmd, output=None):
+        self.args = returncode, cmd, output
         self.returncode = returncode
         self.cmd = cmd
         self.output = output
diff -r c96d5729a485 Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py	Sat Mar 17 13:34:13 2012 +0100
+++ b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py	Tue Apr 03 23:08:58 2012 +0200
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 import select
 import shutil
 import gc
+import pickle
 
 try:
     import resource
@@ -815,6 +816,11 @@
                 # communicate() will be interrupted by SIGUSR1
                 process.communicate()
 
+    def test_picklable_exception(self):
+        e = subprocess.CalledProcessError(1, 'ls')
+        e2 = pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(e))
+        self.assertEqual(e.args, e2.args)
+
 
 # context manager
 class _SuppressCoreFiles(object):