diff --git a/configuration.h b/configuration.h
index 20e07dc..67485e3 100644
--- a/configuration.h
+++ b/configuration.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 #include <string>
 #include <list>
+#include "simpleskycam.h"
 #include "videodev.h"
 #include "json.h"
 
diff --git a/main.cc b/main.cc
index d249aab..dc5c529 100644
--- a/main.cc
+++ b/main.cc
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@
  *****************************************************************************************/
 
 #include <sys/time.h>
+#include <execinfo.h>
 
+#include "simpleskycam.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "configuration.h"
 #include "gui.h"
@@ -32,7 +34,7 @@ int main (int argc, char **argv) {
 	char buffer[16];
 	setvbuf (stdout, buffer, _IONBF, 16);
 #endif
-
+	
 	printf ("SimpleSkyCam - %s\n", VERSION);
 	printf ("  written by Steffen Pohle <steffen@gulpe.de>\n");
 	printf ("\n");
@@ -88,3 +90,39 @@ float get_cycletime(struct timeval *t) {
 	return f;
 }
 
+
+/*
+ * print error message and the backtrace
+ */
+#define SIZE 100
+void errorexit (char *fmt,...) {
+	//
+	// error message
+	va_list args;
+	char text[4096];
+
+	va_start (args, fmt);
+	vsnprintf (text, 4096, fmt, args);
+	va_end (args);
+
+	printf ("***************************\n");
+	printf ("          ERROR\n");
+	printf ("***************************\n");
+	printf ("%s", text);
+
+	//
+	// backtrace
+	int j, nptrs;
+	void *buffer[SIZE];
+	char **s;
+
+	nptrs = backtrace(buffer, SIZE);
+	if ((s = (char**) backtrace_symbols(buffer, nptrs)) == NULL) {
+		for (j = 0; j < nptrs; j++) printf ("%-5d %p\n", j, buffer[j]);
+	}
+	else {
+		for (j = 0; j < nptrs; j++) printf ("%-5d %s\n", j, s[j]);
+	}
+	exit (-1);
+}
+