diff --git a/source/blender/blenlib/BLI_system.h b/source/blender/blenlib/BLI_system.h
index 8cdc9e4e6c5..bc81b85303d 100644
--- a/source/blender/blenlib/BLI_system.h
+++ b/source/blender/blenlib/BLI_system.h
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@
 
 int BLI_cpu_support_sse2(void);
 
+#if !defined(NDEBUG) && !defined(__BLI_UTILDEFINES_H__)
+void BLI_system_backtrace(FILE *fp);
+#endif
+
 /* getpid */
 #ifdef WIN32
 #  define BLI_SYSTEM_PID_H <process.h>
@@ -35,4 +39,3 @@ int BLI_cpu_support_sse2(void);
 #endif
 
 #endif  /* __BLI_SYSTEM_H__ */
-
diff --git a/source/blender/blenlib/BLI_utildefines.h b/source/blender/blenlib/BLI_utildefines.h
index 16d3c2f8a42..a6dee7fd263 100644
--- a/source/blender/blenlib/BLI_utildefines.h
+++ b/source/blender/blenlib/BLI_utildefines.h
@@ -510,6 +510,7 @@
  * for aborting need to define WITH_ASSERT_ABORT
  */
 #ifndef NDEBUG
+extern void BLI_system_backtrace(FILE *fp);
 #  ifdef WITH_ASSERT_ABORT
 #    define _BLI_DUMMY_ABORT abort
 #  else
@@ -519,6 +520,7 @@
 #    define BLI_assert(a)                                                     \
 	(void)((!(a)) ?  (                                                        \
 		(                                                                     \
+		BLI_system_backtrace(stderr),                                         \
 		fprintf(stderr,                                                       \
 			"BLI_assert failed: %s:%d, %s(), at \'%s\'\n",                    \
 			__FILE__, __LINE__, __func__, STRINGIFY(a)),                      \
diff --git a/source/blender/blenlib/intern/system.c b/source/blender/blenlib/intern/system.c
index e6389bc68f3..51b8efbb79f 100644
--- a/source/blender/blenlib/intern/system.c
+++ b/source/blender/blenlib/intern/system.c
@@ -22,9 +22,18 @@
  *  \ingroup bli
  */
 
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
 
 #include "BLI_system.h"
 
+/* for backtrace */
+#if defined(__linux__) || defined(__APPLE__)
+#  include <execinfo.h>
+#elif defined(_MSV_VER)
+#  include <DbgHelp.h>
+#endif
+
 int BLI_cpu_support_sse2(void)
 {
 #if defined(__x86_64__) || defined(_M_X64)
@@ -57,3 +66,69 @@ int BLI_cpu_support_sse2(void)
 #endif
 }
 
+/**
+ * Write a backtrace into a file for systems which support it.
+ */
+void BLI_system_backtrace(FILE *fp)
+{
+	/* ------------- */
+	/* Linux / Apple */
+#if defined(__linux__) || defined(__APPLE__)
+
+#define SIZE 100
+	void *buffer[SIZE];
+	int nptrs;
+	char **strings;
+	int i;
+
+	/* include a backtrace for good measure */
+	nptrs = backtrace(buffer, SIZE);
+	strings = backtrace_symbols(buffer, nptrs);
+	for (i = 0; i < nptrs; i++) {
+		fputs(strings[i], fp);
+		fputc('\n', fp);
+	}
+
+	free(strings);
+#undef SIZE
+
+	/* -------- */
+	/* Windows  */
+#elif defined(_MSC_VER)
+
+	(void)fp;
+#if 0
+#define MAXSYMBOL 256
+	unsigned short	i;
+	void *stack[SIZE];
+	unsigned short nframes;
+	SYMBOL_INFO	*symbolinfo;
+	HANDLE process;
+
+	process = GetCurrentProcess();
+
+	SymInitialize(process, NULL, true);
+
+	nframes = CaptureStackBackTrace(0, SIZE, stack, NULL);
+	symbolinfo = MEM_callocN(sizeof(SYMBOL_INFO) + MAXSYMBOL * sizeof(char), "crash Symbol table");
+	symbolinfo->MaxNameLen = MAXSYMBOL - 1;
+	symbolinfo->SizeOfStruct = sizeof(SYMBOL_INFO);
+
+	for (i = 0; i < nframes; i++) {
+		SymFromAddr(process, ( DWORD64 )( stack[ i ] ), 0, symbolinfo);
+
+		fprintf(fp, "%u: %s - 0x%0X\n", nframes - i - 1, symbolinfo->Name, symbolinfo->Address);
+	}
+
+	MEM_freeN(symbolinfo);
+#undef MAXSYMBOL
+#endif
+
+	/* ------------------ */
+	/* non msvc/osx/linux */
+#else
+	(void)fp;
+#endif
+
+}
+/* end BLI_system_backtrace */
diff --git a/source/blender/makesrna/intern/makesrna.c b/source/blender/makesrna/intern/makesrna.c
index 9b33e1f5c28..ca9ff499801 100644
--- a/source/blender/makesrna/intern/makesrna.c
+++ b/source/blender/makesrna/intern/makesrna.c
@@ -47,6 +47,14 @@
 #  endif
 #endif
 
+/* stub for BLI_abort() */
+#ifndef NDEBUG
+void BLI_system_backtrace(FILE *fp)
+{
+	(void)fp;
+}
+#endif
+
 /* Replace if different */
 #define TMP_EXT ".tmp"
 
diff --git a/source/creator/creator.c b/source/creator/creator.c
index be03ffe0bda..f872398300a 100644
--- a/source/creator/creator.c
+++ b/source/creator/creator.c
@@ -48,13 +48,6 @@
 #  include "utfconv.h"
 #endif
 
-/* for backtrace */
-#if defined(__linux__) || defined(__APPLE__)
-#  include <execinfo.h>
-#elif defined(_MSV_VER)
-#  include <DbgHelp.h>
-#endif
-
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
 #include <string.h>
@@ -515,73 +508,12 @@ static int set_fpe(int UNUSED(argc), const char **UNUSED(argv), void *UNUSED(dat
 	return 0;
 }
 
-#if defined(__linux__) || defined(__APPLE__)
-
-/* Unix */
 static void blender_crash_handler_backtrace(FILE *fp)
 {
-#define SIZE 100
-	void *buffer[SIZE];
-	int nptrs;
-	char **strings;
-	int i;
-
 	fputs("\n# backtrace\n", fp);
-
-	/* include a backtrace for good measure */
-	nptrs = backtrace(buffer, SIZE);
-	strings = backtrace_symbols(buffer, nptrs);
-	for (i = 0; i < nptrs; i++) {
-		fputs(strings[i], fp);
-		fputc('\n', fp);
-	}
-
-	free(strings);
-#undef SIZE
+	BLI_system_backtrace(fp);
 }
 
-#elif defined(_MSC_VER)
-
-static void blender_crash_handler_backtrace(FILE *fp)
-{
-	(void)fp;
-
-#if 0
-#define MAXSYMBOL 256
-	unsigned short	i;
-	void *stack[SIZE];
-	unsigned short nframes;
-	SYMBOL_INFO	*symbolinfo;
-	HANDLE process;
-
-	process = GetCurrentProcess();
-
-	SymInitialize(process, NULL, true);
-
-	nframes = CaptureStackBackTrace(0, SIZE, stack, NULL);
-	symbolinfo = MEM_callocN(sizeof(SYMBOL_INFO) + MAXSYMBOL * sizeof(char), "crash Symbol table");
-	symbolinfo->MaxNameLen = MAXSYMBOL - 1;
-	symbolinfo->SizeOfStruct = sizeof(SYMBOL_INFO);
-
-	for (i = 0; i < nframes; i++) {
-		SymFromAddr(process, ( DWORD64 )( stack[ i ] ), 0, symbolinfo);
-
-		fprintf(fp, "%u: %s - 0x%0X\n", nframes - i - 1, symbolinfo->Name, symbolinfo->Address);
-	}
-
-	MEM_freeN(symbolinfo);
-#endif
-}
-
-#else  /* non msvc/osx/linux */
-
-static void blender_crash_handler_backtrace(FILE *fp)
-{
-	(void)fp;
-}
-
-#endif
-
 static void blender_crash_handler(int signum)
 {