diff --git a/Editor/CMakeLists.txt b/Editor/CMakeLists.txt
index 7062ca2c7..99503f29c 100644
--- a/Editor/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Editor/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -26,6 +26,12 @@ else ()
 	)
 	set(LIB_DXCOMPILER "libdxcompiler.so")
 
+	# needed for proper names in crash stacktrace
+	set_target_properties(WickedEngineEditor
+		PROPERTIES
+		ENABLE_EXPORTS ON
+	)
+
 endif ()
 
 # Copy content to build folder:
diff --git a/Editor/main_SDL2.cpp b/Editor/main_SDL2.cpp
index aaaffa481..38491a855 100644
--- a/Editor/main_SDL2.cpp
+++ b/Editor/main_SDL2.cpp
@@ -6,6 +6,13 @@
 
 #include "icon.c"
 
+#ifdef __linux__
+#  include <execinfo.h>
+#  include <csignal>
+#  include <cstdio>
+#  include <unistd.h>
+#endif
+
 using namespace std;
 
 Editor editor;
@@ -92,8 +99,71 @@ void set_window_icon(SDL_Window *window) {
     SDL_FreeSurface(icon);
 }
 
+#ifdef __linux__
+
+void crash_handler(int sig)
+{
+	void* btbuf[100];
+
+	char outbuf[256];
+
+	size_t size = backtrace(btbuf, 100);
+	snprintf(
+		outbuf, sizeof(outbuf),
+		"Signal: %i (%s)\n"
+		"Version: %s\nStacktrace:\n",
+		sig,
+		sigdescr_np(sig),
+		wi::version::GetVersionString()
+	);
+
+	fprintf(
+		stderr,
+		"\e[31m"  // red
+		"The editor just crashed, sorry about that! If you make a bug report, please include the following information:\n\n%s",
+		outbuf
+	);
+	backtrace_symbols_fd(btbuf, size, STDERR_FILENO);  // backtrace_symbols does a malloc which could crash, backtrace_symbols_fd does not.
+	fprintf(stderr, "\e[m");  // back to normal
+
+	// finally, we also try to write the crash data to a file
+	// this might fail because we're in a weird state right now, but there's no harm done if it doesn't work
+
+	// Use C interface because some stuff in the c++ stdlib could be calling malloc
+
+	const char* filename = "wicked-editor-crash-log.txt";
+
+	FILE* logfile = fopen(filename, "w");
+
+	if (logfile != nullptr)
+	{
+		fputs(outbuf, logfile);
+		fflush(logfile);
+		backtrace_symbols_fd(btbuf, size, fileno(logfile));
+		fclose(logfile);
+		char cwdbuf[200];
+		fprintf(stderr, "\e[1mcrash log written to %s/%s\e[m\n", getcwd(cwdbuf, sizeof(cwdbuf)), filename);
+	}
+	exit(1);
+}
+
+#endif
+
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
+
+#ifdef __linux__
+	// dummy backtrace() call to force libgcc to be loaded ahead of time.
+	// Otherwise it might lead to malloc calls in the crash_handler, which we want to avoid
+	void* dummy[1];
+	backtrace(dummy, 1);
+
+	for (int sig : std::array{SIGABRT, SIGBUS, SIGILL, SIGFPE, SIGSEGV})
+	{
+		signal(sig, crash_handler);
+	}
+#endif
+
     wi::arguments::Parse(argc, argv);
 
     sdl2::sdlsystem_ptr_t system = sdl2::make_sdlsystem(SDL_INIT_EVERYTHING | SDL_INIT_EVENTS);
diff --git a/WickedEngine/wiBacklog.h b/WickedEngine/wiBacklog.h
index c5ce5501a..897561d64 100644
--- a/WickedEngine/wiBacklog.h
+++ b/WickedEngine/wiBacklog.h
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <cassert>
 
-#define wilog_level(str,level,...) {char text[1024] = {}; snprintf(text, sizeof(text), str, ## __VA_ARGS__); wi::backlog::post(text, level);}
-#define wilog_messagebox(str,...) {char text[1024] = {}; snprintf(text, sizeof(text), str, ## __VA_ARGS__); wi::backlog::post(text, wi::backlog::LogLevel::Error); wi::helper::messageBox(text, "Error!");}
+#define wilog_level(str,level,...) {char text[1024]; snprintf(text, sizeof(text), str, ## __VA_ARGS__); wi::backlog::post(text, level);}
+#define wilog_messagebox(str,...) {char text[1024]; snprintf(text, sizeof(text), str, ## __VA_ARGS__); wi::backlog::post(text, wi::backlog::LogLevel::Error); wi::helper::messageBox(text, "Error!");}
 #define wilog_warning(str,...) {wilog_level(str, wi::backlog::LogLevel::Warning, ## __VA_ARGS__);}
 #define wilog_error(str,...) {wilog_level(str, wi::backlog::LogLevel::Error, ## __VA_ARGS__);}
 #define wilog(str,...) {wilog_level(str, wi::backlog::LogLevel::Default, ## __VA_ARGS__);}