diff --git a/config-templates/config.php b/config-templates/config.php
index d46c1ffc6ec58d0fb26c507c4bf050779f7561bf..170bbe960cbc4bbaf20c8b440c9f3186caf72532 100644
--- a/config-templates/config.php
+++ b/config-templates/config.php
@@ -237,9 +237,8 @@ $config = [
      * SAML messages will be logged, including plaintext versions of encrypted
      * messages.
      *
-     * - 'backtraces': this action controls the logging of error backtraces. If you
-     * want to log backtraces so that you can debug any possible errors happening in
-     * SimpleSAMLphp, enable this action (add it to the array or set it to true).
+     * - 'backtraces': this action controls the logging of error backtraces so you
+     * can debug any possible errors happening in SimpleSAMLphp.
      *
      * - 'validatexml': this action allows you to validate SAML documents against all
      * the relevant XML schemas. SAML 1.1 messages or SAML metadata parsed with
diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Error/Exception.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Error/Exception.php
index b0b7b8809bd0c94ae1c213dd2abb42edf5a601b4..df7ed1a52e5ce59dbd002498b81c44470a6a51ec 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Error/Exception.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Error/Exception.php
@@ -204,18 +204,9 @@ class Exception extends \Exception
      */
     protected function logBacktrace($level = Logger::DEBUG)
     {
-        // see if debugging is enabled for backtraces
-        $debug = Configuration::getInstance()->getArrayize('debug', ['backtraces' => false]);
-
-        if (
-            !(in_array('backtraces', $debug, true) // implicitly enabled
-            || (array_key_exists('backtraces', $debug)
-            && $debug['backtraces'] === true)
-            // explicitly set
-            // TODO: deprecate the old style and remove it in 2.0
-            || (array_key_exists(0, $debug)
-            && $debug[0] === true)) // old style 'debug' configuration option
-        ) {
+        // Do nothing if backtraces have been disabled in config.
+        $debug = Configuration::getInstance()->getArrayize('debug', ['backtraces' => true]);
+        if (array_key_exists('backtraces', $debug) && $debug['backtraces'] === false) {
             return;
         }