Error handling in Bash [closed]

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What is your favorite method to handle errors in Bash?
The best example of handling errors I have found on the web was written by William Shotts, Jr at http://www.linuxcommand.org.

He suggests using the following function for error handling in Bash:

#!/bin/bash

# A slicker error handling routine

# I put a variable in my scripts named PROGNAME which
# holds the name of the program being run.  You can get this
# value from the first item on the command line ($0).

# Reference: This was copied from <http://www.linuxcommand.org/wss0150.php>

PROGNAME=$(basename $0)

function error_exit
{

#   ----------------------------------------------------------------
#   Function for exit due to fatal program error
#       Accepts 1 argument:
#           string containing descriptive error message
#   ---------------------------------------------------------------- 

    echo "${PROGNAME}: ${1:-"Unknown Error"}" 1>&2
    exit 1
}

# Example call of the error_exit function.  Note the inclusion
# of the LINENO environment variable.  It contains the current
# line number.

echo "Example of error with line number and message"
error_exit "$LINENO: An error has occurred."

Do you have a better error handling routine that you use in Bash scripts?

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