diff --git a/libsrc/core/exception.cpp b/libsrc/core/exception.cpp
index 49594bd1..a1909a7c 100644
--- a/libsrc/core/exception.cpp
+++ b/libsrc/core/exception.cpp
@@ -144,6 +144,8 @@ namespace ngcore
 
   std::string GetBackTrace()
   {
+    if(!getenv("NG_BACKTRACE"))
+        return "";
     std::cerr << "Collecting backtrace..." << std::endl;
     std::stringstream result;
     void *bt[100];