diff --git a/INSTALL.quagga.txt b/INSTALL.quagga.txt
index 0d465879f5..11c85b1a31 100644
--- a/INSTALL.quagga.txt
+++ b/INSTALL.quagga.txt
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ not a guarantee of support, merely "we agree that it is broken".)
   OpenBSD ? [info needed on what should work]
   Solaris (modern/supported versions, including OpenSolaris forks) 
 
+On BSD systems, installing libexecinfo is strongly recommended in order
+to get backtrace support.
+
 For further Quagga specific information on 'configure' and build-time
 configuration of the software, please read the Quagga info
 documentation, (doc/quagga.info).  To read the info page included with
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index ff7a4d5478..8964006a89 100755
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -273,7 +273,9 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(gcc_ultra_verbose,
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(linux24_tcp_md5,
 [  --enable-linux24-tcp-md5  enable support for old, Linux-2.4 RFC2385 patch])
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(gcc-rdynamic,
-[  --enable-gcc-rdynamic   enable gcc linking with -rdynamic for better backtraces])
+[  --enable-gcc-rdynamic         enable linking with -rdynamic for better backtraces (default if gcc)])
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(backtrace,
+[  --disable-backtrace,          disable crash backtraces (default autodetect)])
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(time-check,
 [  --disable-time-check          disable slow thread warning messages])
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(pcreposix,
@@ -288,8 +290,10 @@ if test x"${enable_gcc_ultra_verbose}" = x"yes" ; then
   CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -Wpacked -Wpadded"
 fi
 
-if test x"${enable_gcc_rdynamic}" = x"yes" ; then
-  LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS} -rdynamic"
+if test x"${enable_gcc_rdynamic}" != x"no" ; then
+  if test x"${enable_gcc_rdynamic}" = x"yes" -o x"$COMPILER" = x"GCC"; then
+    LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS} -rdynamic"
+  fi
 fi
 
 if test x"${enable_time_check}" != x"no" ; then
@@ -1566,12 +1570,21 @@ AX_SYS_WEAK_ALIAS
 dnl ---------------------------
 dnl check for glibc 'backtrace'
 dnl --------------------------- 
-AC_CHECK_HEADER([execinfo.h],
-  [AC_CHECK_FUNC([backtrace],
-    [AC_DEFINE(HAVE_GLIBC_BACKTRACE,,[Glibc backtrace])
-     AC_DEFINE(HAVE_STACK_TRACE,,[Stack symbol decoding])
+if test x"${enable_backtrace}" != x"no" ; then
+  backtrace_ok=no
+  AC_CHECK_HEADER([execinfo.h], [
+    AC_SEARCH_LIBS([backtrace], [execinfo], [
+      AC_DEFINE(HAVE_GLIBC_BACKTRACE,,[Glibc backtrace])
+      AC_DEFINE(HAVE_STACK_TRACE,,[Stack symbol decoding])
+      backtrace_ok=yes
+    ],, [-lm])
   ])
-])
+
+  if test x"${enable_backtrace}" = x"yes" -a x"${backtrace_ok}" = x"no"; then
+    dnl user explicitly requested backtrace but we failed to find support
+    AC_MSG_FAILURE([failed to find backtrace support])
+  fi
+fi
 
 dnl -----------------------------------------
 dnl check for malloc mallinfo struct and call
diff --git a/doc/install.texi b/doc/install.texi
index 0f8f65fab8..1e8d965bcf 100644
--- a/doc/install.texi
+++ b/doc/install.texi
@@ -96,6 +96,16 @@ installed.  They can be excluded from build with this option, which will
 minimally decrease compile time and overhead.  They can always be built and
 executed at a later time by running @command{make check} in the @file{tests/}
 subdirectory, even if they're excluded from build.
+@item --enable-gcc-rdynamic
+Pass the @command{-rdynamic} option to the linker driver.  This is in most
+cases neccessary for getting usable backtraces.  This option defaults to on
+if the compiler is detected as gcc, but giving an explicit enable/disable is
+suggested.
+@item --enable-backtrace
+Controls backtrace support for the crash handlers. This is autodetected by
+default. Using the switch will enforce the requested behaviour, failing with
+an error if support is requested but not available.  On BSD systems, this
+needs libexecinfo, while on glibc support for this is part of libc itself.
 @end table
 
 You may specify any combination of the above options to the configure