diff --git a/tools/prune-trace/BasicPruner.hpp b/tools/prune-trace/BasicPruner.hpp
index 67167ee5..a0f0e59d 100644
--- a/tools/prune-trace/BasicPruner.hpp
+++ b/tools/prune-trace/BasicPruner.hpp
@@ -9,6 +9,20 @@ public:
 	BasicPruner(bool use_instr1 = false) : use_instr1(use_instr1) {}
 	virtual std::string method_name() { return std::string("basic") + (use_instr1 ? "-left" : ""); }
 	virtual bool prune_all();
+
+	void getAliases(std::deque<std::string> *aliases) {
+		aliases->push_back("BasicPruner");
+		aliases->push_back("basic");
+	}
+};
+
+class BasicPrunerLeft : public BasicPruner {
+public:
+	BasicPrunerLeft() : BasicPruner(true) {}
+	void getAliases(std::deque<std::string> *aliases) {
+		aliases->push_back("BasicPrunerLeft");
+		aliases->push_back("basic-left");
+	}
 };
 
 #endif
diff --git a/tools/prune-trace/FESamplingPruner.hpp b/tools/prune-trace/FESamplingPruner.hpp
index 6d4dc0cf..a9538622 100644
--- a/tools/prune-trace/FESamplingPruner.hpp
+++ b/tools/prune-trace/FESamplingPruner.hpp
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ public:
 	virtual bool commandline_init();
 	virtual bool prune_all();
 
+	void getAliases(std::deque<std::string> *aliases) {
+		aliases->push_back("FESamplingPruner");
+		aliases->push_back("sampling");
+	}
+
 private:
 	bool sampling_prune(const fail::Database::Variant& variant);
 };
diff --git a/tools/prune-trace/Pruner.hpp b/tools/prune-trace/Pruner.hpp
index fcc02a61..a0ec044d 100644
--- a/tools/prune-trace/Pruner.hpp
+++ b/tools/prune-trace/Pruner.hpp
@@ -4,8 +4,9 @@
 #include <vector>
 #include <string>
 #include "util/Database.hpp"
+#include "util/AliasedRegisterable.hpp"
 
-class Pruner {
+class Pruner : public fail::AliasedRegisterable {
 protected:
 	int m_method_id;
 	fail::Database *db;
diff --git a/tools/prune-trace/main.cc b/tools/prune-trace/main.cc
index fe78cd32..22b2b6bf 100644
--- a/tools/prune-trace/main.cc
+++ b/tools/prune-trace/main.cc
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
 #include "util/CommandLine.hpp"
 #include "util/Logger.hpp"
+#include "util/AliasedRegistry.hpp"
+
 static fail::Logger LOG("prune-trace", true);
 
 using namespace fail;
@@ -16,6 +18,17 @@ using std::endl;
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 	std::string username, hostname, database;
 
+	// register possible Pruners
+	AliasedRegistry registry;
+	BasicPruner basicpruner;
+	registry.add(&basicpruner);
+	BasicPrunerLeft basicprunerleft;
+	registry.add(&basicprunerleft);
+	FESamplingPruner fesamplingpruner;
+	registry.add(&fesamplingpruner);
+
+	std::string pruners = registry.getPrimeAliasesCSV();
+
 	// Manually fill the command line option parser
 	CommandLine &cmd = CommandLine::Inst();
 	for (int i = 1; i < argc; ++i) {
@@ -39,9 +52,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 	CommandLine::option_handle BENCHMARK_EXCLUDE =
 		cmd.addOption("", "benchmark-exclude", Arg::Required,
 			"--benchmark-exclude \tBenchmark to exclude (default: UNSET; use % and _ as wildcard characters; may be used more than once)");
+	std::string pruner_help = "-p/--prune-method \tWhich pruning method to use (default: basic); available pruning methods: " + pruners;
 	CommandLine::option_handle PRUNER =
-		cmd.addOption("p", "prune-method", Arg::Required,
-			"-p/--prune-method \tWhich import method to use (default: basic)");
+		cmd.addOption("p", "prune-method", Arg::Required, pruner_help);
 	CommandLine::option_handle NO_DELETE =
 		cmd.addOption("", "no-delete", Arg::None,
 			"--no-delete \tAssume there are no DB entries for this variant/benchmark, don't issue a DELETE");
@@ -55,6 +68,20 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 	}
 
 	Pruner *pruner;
+	std::string pruner_name = "BasicPruner";
+	if (cmd[PRUNER]) {
+		pruner_name = cmd[PRUNER].first()->arg;
+	}
+
+	// try and get the according pruner object; die on failure
+	if ((pruner = (Pruner *)registry.get(pruner_name)) == 0) {
+		if (pruner_name != "?" ) {
+			std::cerr << "Unknown import method: " << pruner_name << std::endl;
+		}
+		std::cerr << "Available import methods: " << pruners << std::endl;
+		exit(-1);
+	}
+
 	if (cmd[PRUNER]) {
 		std::string imp(cmd[PRUNER].first()->arg);
 		if (imp == "BasicPruner" || imp == "basic") {