diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 483f126..fd65b12 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -24,13 +24,11 @@ AM_CXXFLAGS += -DNO_STRASSEN -DFORTRAN_
 
 AM_CXXFLAGS += $(CBLASOPT) $(CLAPACKOPT) 
 AM_CXXFLAGS += $(MKLOPT)
-AM_CXXFLAGS += $(TRACEBACKOPT)
 #AM_LDFLAGS += .libs/libla.a
 AM_LDFLAGS += $(CBLASLIB)
 AM_LDFLAGS += $(BLASLIB)
 AM_LDFLAGS += $(ATLASLIB)
 AM_LDFLAGS += $(MKLLIB)
 AM_LDFLAGS += $(CUDALIBS)
-AM_LDFLAGS += $(TRACEBACKLIB)
 
 include $(top_srcdir)/aminclude.am
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9905807..368ce00 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -105,12 +105,6 @@ AC_SUBST([NVCCFLAGS])
 AC_SUBST([MATPTROPT])
 
 
-#the check for traceback needs bfd to be linked into
-AC_CHECK_LIB([bfd], [bfd_fprintf_vma])
-AC_CHECK_LIB([traceback], [sigtraceback], [TRACEBACKLIB="-ltraceback -lbfd" TRACEBACKOPT="-DUSE_TRACEBACK -fno-omit-frame-pointer"])
-AC_SUBST([TRACEBACKOPT])
-AC_SUBST([TRACEBACKLIB])
-
 #process options
 FORINTOPT=""
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([fotran64int],[  --enable-fotran64int to link with 64-bit-integer-BLAS+LAPACK ],
diff --git a/la.h b/la.h
index 512f009..0201ed4 100644
--- a/la.h
+++ b/la.h
@@ -20,9 +20,6 @@
 
 //this should be the single include file for the end user
 //
-#ifdef USE_TRACEBACK
-#include "traceback.h"
-#endif
 #include "la_traits.h"
 #include "laerror.h"
 #include "auxstorage.h"
diff --git a/laerror.cc b/laerror.cc
index 5e015de..7a0a9d5 100644
--- a/laerror.cc
+++ b/laerror.cc
@@ -24,12 +24,17 @@
 #include <string.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
+#include <signal.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/mman.h>
+#include <setjmp.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <sys/wait.h>
+#include <sys/prctl.h>
+
 
 #include "cuda_la.h"
 
-#ifdef USE_TRACEBACK
-#include "traceback.h"
-#endif
 
 namespace LA {
 
@@ -42,8 +47,60 @@ bool _LA_count_check=true;
 
 extern "C" void _findme(void) {}; //for autoconf test we need a function with C linkage
 
+//traceback routines
+extern "C" {
+
+
+//simple traceback by calling gdb on ourselves 
+int traceback(int flags)
+{
+    char pid_buf[256];
+    sprintf(pid_buf, "%d", getpid());
+    char name_buf[512];
+    name_buf[readlink("/proc/self/exe", name_buf, 511)]=0;
+    prctl(PR_SET_PTRACER, PR_SET_PTRACER_ANY, 0, 0, 0);
+    int child_pid = fork();
+    if (!child_pid) {
+        dup2(2,1); // redirect output to stderr - edit: unnecessary?
+        execl("/usr/bin/gdb", "gdb", "--batch", "-n", "-ex", "thread", "-ex", "bt", name_buf, pid_buf, NULL);
+        abort(); /* If gdb failed to start */
+    } else {
+        waitpid(child_pid,NULL,0);
+    }
+return 0;
+}
+
+static int tracebackflags;
+static int washere=0;
+
+void tracebackhandler(int i, siginfo_t *info, void *x)
+{
+fflush(stdout);
+
+traceback(tracebackflags);
+
+if(!washere) {washere=1; raise(i);} /*generate core*/
+else _exit(1); /*prevent endless loop if something goes very wrong*/
+}
+
+void sigtraceback(int sig,int flags)
+{
+struct sigaction action;
+action.sa_sigaction=tracebackhandler;
+action.sa_flags=SA_ONESHOT|SA_SIGINFO;
+memset(&action.sa_mask,0,sizeof(sigset_t));
+tracebackflags=flags;
+if(sigaction(sig,&action,NULL)) perror("cannot install signal handler");
+}
+
+
+
+}//extern C
+
 void laerror2(const char *s1, const char *s2)
 {
+  std::cout.flush();
+  std::cerr.flush();
   std::cerr << "LA:ERROR - ";
   std::cout << "LA:ERROR - ";
   if(s1)
diff --git a/laerror.h b/laerror.h
index 6592802..632590e 100644
--- a/laerror.h
+++ b/laerror.h
@@ -19,8 +19,15 @@
 #define _LAERROR_H_
 #include <iostream>
 
+#include <signal.h>
+
 namespace LA {
 
+extern "C" {
+extern int traceback(int flags);
+extern void sigtraceback(int sig,int flags);
+}
+
 //exception class for laerror
 class LAerror
 	{
diff --git a/t.cc b/t.cc
index f142500..95d5560 100644
--- a/t.cc
+++ b/t.cc
@@ -123,12 +123,10 @@ cout <<y;
 
 int main()
 {
-#ifdef USE_TRACEBACK
 sigtraceback(SIGSEGV,1);
 sigtraceback(SIGABRT,1);
 sigtraceback(SIGBUS,1);
 sigtraceback(SIGFPE,1);
-#endif
 
 
 NRVec<double> x(1.,10);
diff --git a/t2.cc b/t2.cc
index e845056..8f88333 100644
--- a/t2.cc
+++ b/t2.cc
@@ -24,9 +24,6 @@
 #include "fourindex.h"
 #include "bitvector.h"
 
-#ifdef USE_TRACEBACK
-#include "traceback.h"
-#endif
 
 using namespace LA;