diff --git a/alib2common/src/debug/simpleStacktrace.cpp b/alib2common/src/debug/simpleStacktrace.cpp
index bb59178c870d965596837112f1d22ed1eb7b37b6..91dbfa24b2449871c4dfbf5319700031bb1f38a0 100644
--- a/alib2common/src/debug/simpleStacktrace.cpp
+++ b/alib2common/src/debug/simpleStacktrace.cpp
@@ -11,9 +11,10 @@
 #include <link.h>
 #include <cstring>
 
-#include <sstream>
+#include <ext/sstream>
 #include <string>
 #include <map>
+#include <filesystem>
 
 namespace ext {
 
@@ -26,25 +27,15 @@ int callback(struct dl_phdr_info *info, size_t, void * data) {
 }
 
 #if defined DEBUG && defined BACKTRACE
-	void simpleStacktrace ( ext::ostream & out, unsigned int max_frames ) {
-		char linkname[512]; /* /proc/exe */
-		char buf[512];
-		pid_t pid;
-		int ret;
-
+	void simpleStacktrace ( ext::ostream & out, int max_frames ) {
 		/* Get our PID and build the name of the link in /proc */
-		pid = getpid();
-		snprintf(linkname, sizeof(linkname), "/proc/%i/exe", pid);
+		pid_t pid = getpid();
+		auto linkname = std::filesystem::path("/proc") / std::to_string(pid) / "exe";
 
 		/* Now read the symbolic link */
-		ret = readlink(linkname, buf, 512);
-		if ( ret < 0 ) {
-			strcpy(buf, "[UNKNOWN]");
-		} else {
-			buf[ret] = 0;
-		}
+		std::filesystem::path procname = std::filesystem::read_symlink ( linkname );
 
-		out << "stack trace for process " << buf << " (PID:" << pid << "):"<< std::endl;
+		out << "stack trace for process " << procname << " (PID:" << pid << "):" << std::endl;
 
 		// storage array for stack trace address data
 		void** addrlist = static_cast < void * * > ( malloc ( ( max_frames + 1 ) * sizeof ( * addrlist ) ) );
@@ -63,8 +54,8 @@ int callback(struct dl_phdr_info *info, size_t, void * data) {
 		char** symbollist = backtrace_symbols(addrlist, addrlen);
 
 		// allocate string which will be filled with the demangled function name
-		size_t funcnamesize = 256;
-		char* funcname = static_cast < char * > ( malloc ( funcnamesize * sizeof ( * funcname ) ) );
+		size_t funcnamesize = 0;
+		char* funcname = nullptr;
 
 		std::map<std::string, long> dlToBaseAddress;
 
@@ -73,7 +64,10 @@ int callback(struct dl_phdr_info *info, size_t, void * data) {
 		// iterate over the returned symbol lines. skip the first, it is the
 		// address of this function.
 		for (int i = 1; i < addrlen; ++i) {
-			char *begin_name = 0, *begin_offset = 0, *end_offset = 0, *addr_offset = 0;
+			char *begin_name = 0;
+			char *begin_offset = 0;
+			char *end_offset = 0;
+			char *addr_offset = 0;
 
 			// find parentheses and +address offset surrounding the mangled name:
 			// module(function+0x15c) [0x8048a6d]
@@ -114,7 +108,7 @@ int callback(struct dl_phdr_info *info, size_t, void * data) {
 				// __cxa_demangle():
 
 				int status;
-				char* demangled = abi::__cxa_demangle(begin_name, funcname, &funcnamesize, &status);
+				char* demangled = abi::__cxa_demangle(begin_name, nullptr, &funcnamesize, &status);
 				if (status == 0) {
 					funcname = demangled; // use possibly realloc()-ed string
 					out << "  " << symbollist[i] << " : " << funcname << "+" << begin_offset << " " << begin_name << " [0x" << addr_offset_by_dl.c_str() << "; @ " << addr_offset << "]" << std::endl;
@@ -133,7 +127,7 @@ int callback(struct dl_phdr_info *info, size_t, void * data) {
 		free(addrlist);
 	}
 #else
-	void simpleStacktrace ( std::ostream &, unsigned int ) {
+	void simpleStacktrace ( std::ostream &, int ) {
 	}
 #endif
 
diff --git a/alib2common/src/debug/simpleStacktrace.h b/alib2common/src/debug/simpleStacktrace.h
index ac613c73c397a4c168cc1e7f9cce661585c9c6fd..9d84e9552dc6d9f8db05751b9972e9cefb05f9c0 100644
--- a/alib2common/src/debug/simpleStacktrace.h
+++ b/alib2common/src/debug/simpleStacktrace.h
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ namespace ext {
  * \brief
  * Analyzes the backtrace (stack trace) and creates its sring representation, one function call per line.
  */
-void simpleStacktrace ( ext::ostream & out, unsigned int max_frames = 1000);
+
+void simpleStacktrace ( ext::ostream & out, int max_frames = 1000); // NOLINT(readability-magic-numbers)
 
 } /* namespace ext */