diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Error/Exception.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Error/Exception.php
index 761665ae301c09f89afc4029d1d969756b940872..6e0da80085cf8cca339b6e15fb22c02705f832a8 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Error/Exception.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Error/Exception.php
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ class SimpleSAML_Error_Exception extends Exception {
 
 		parent::__construct($message, $code);
 
-		$this->backtrace = SimpleSAML_Utilities::buildBacktrace($this);
+		$this->initBacktrace($this);
 
 		if ($cause !== NULL) {
 			$this->cause = SimpleSAML_Error_Exception::fromException($cause);
@@ -70,27 +70,44 @@ class SimpleSAML_Error_Exception extends Exception {
 
 
 	/**
-	 * Retrieve the backtrace.
+	 * Load the backtrace from the given exception.
 	 *
-	 * @return array  An array where each function call is a single item.
+	 * @param Exception $exception  The exception we should fetch the backtrace from.
 	 */
-	public function getBacktrace() {
-		return $this->backtrace;
+	protected function initBacktrace(Exception $exception) {
+
+		$this->backtrace = array();
+
+		/* Position in the top function on the stack. */
+		$pos = $exception->getFile() . ':' . $exception->getLine();
+
+		foreach($exception->getTrace() as $t) {
+
+			$function = $t['function'];
+			if(array_key_exists('class', $t)) {
+				$function = $t['class'] . '::' . $function;
+			}
+
+			$this->backtrace[] = $pos . ' (' . $function . ')';
+
+			if(array_key_exists('file', $t)) {
+				$pos = $t['file'] . ':' . $t['line'];
+			} else {
+				$pos = '[builtin]';
+			}
+		}
+
+		$this->backtrace[] = $pos . ' (N/A)';
 	}
 
 
 	/**
-	 * Replace the backtrace.
-	 *
-	 * This function is meant for subclasses which needs to replace the backtrace
-	 * of this exception, such as the SimpleSAML_Error_Unserializable class.
+	 * Retrieve the backtrace.
 	 *
-	 * @param array $backtrace  The new backtrace.
+	 * @return array  An array where each function call is a single item.
 	 */
-	protected function setBacktrace($backtrace) {
-		assert('is_array($backtrace)');
-
-		$this->backtrace = $backtrace;
+	public function getBacktrace() {
+		return $this->backtrace;
 	}
 
 
diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Error/UnserializableException.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Error/UnserializableException.php
index 00474404938c0f1d1b7f91e219ca2c61f6ae56e0..bbe0a27a3ceb6c0efc7dbe28e0bd6d7c3042cb05 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Error/UnserializableException.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Error/UnserializableException.php
@@ -40,8 +40,7 @@ class SimpleSAML_Error_UnserializableException extends SimpleSAML_Error_Exceptio
 		}
 
 		parent::__construct($msg, $code);
-
-		$this->setBacktrace(SimpleSAML_Utilities::buildBacktrace($original));
+		$this->initBacktrace($original);
 	}
 
 
diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Utilities.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Utilities.php
index 6624207ebb79ebc4b6abb07234584e0a3aa8cad8..c834ef0d0119a0f263489f493e0720755ed4cc62 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Utilities.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Utilities.php
@@ -261,51 +261,6 @@ class SimpleSAML_Utilities {
 	}
 
 
-	/**
-	 * Build a backtrace.
-	 *
-	 * This function takes in an exception and optionally a start depth, and
-	 * builds a backtrace from that depth. The backtrace is returned as an
-	 * array of strings, where each string represents one level in the stack.
-	 *
-	 * @param Exception $exception  The exception.
-	 * @param int $startDepth  The depth we should print the backtrace from.
-	 * @return array  The backtrace as an array of strings.
-	 */
-	public static function buildBacktrace(Exception $exception, $startDepth = 0) {
-
-		assert('is_int($startDepth)');
-
-		$bt = array();
-
-		/* Position in the top function on the stack. */
-		$pos = $exception->getFile() . ':' . $exception->getLine();
-
-		foreach($exception->getTrace() as $t) {
-
-			$function = $t['function'];
-			if(array_key_exists('class', $t)) {
-				$function = $t['class'] . '::' . $function;
-			}
-
-			$bt[] = $pos . ' (' . $function . ')';
-
-			if(array_key_exists('file', $t)) {
-				$pos = $t['file'] . ':' . $t['line'];
-			} else {
-				$pos = '[builtin]';
-			}
-		}
-
-		$bt[] = $pos . ' (N/A)';
-
-		/* Remove $startDepth elements from the top of the backtrace. */
-		$bt = array_slice($bt, $startDepth);
-
-		return $bt;
-	}
-
-
 	/* This function converts a SAML2 timestamp on the form
 	 * yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss(\.s+)?Z to a UNIX timestamp. The sub-second
 	 * part is ignored.