diff --git a/src/App/FreeCADInit.py b/src/App/FreeCADInit.py
index 2de08ad6f..e539e6252 100644
--- a/src/App/FreeCADInit.py
+++ b/src/App/FreeCADInit.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ import FreeCAD
 
 def InitApplications():
 	try:
-		import sys,os
+		import sys,os,traceback,cStringIO
 	except ImportError:
 		FreeCAD.PrintError("\n\nSeems the python standard libs are not installed, bailing out!\n\n")
 		raise
@@ -96,7 +96,12 @@ def InitApplications():
 					exec open(InstallFile).read()
 				except Exception, inst:
 					Log('Init:      Initializing ' + Dir + '... failed\n')
-					Err('During initialization the error ' + str(inst) + ' occurred in ' + InstallFile + '\n')
+					Log('-'*100+'\n')
+					output=cStringIO.StringIO()
+					traceback.print_exc(file=output)
+					Log(output.getvalue())
+					Log('-'*100+'\n')
+					Err('During initialization the error ' + str(inst).decode('ascii','replace') + ' occurred in ' + InstallFile + '\n')
 				else:
 					Log('Init:      Initializing ' + Dir + '... done\n')
 			else:
diff --git a/src/Base/Interpreter.cpp b/src/Base/Interpreter.cpp
index bd0b1d347..dd403e022 100644
--- a/src/Base/Interpreter.cpp
+++ b/src/Base/Interpreter.cpp
@@ -159,7 +159,10 @@ std::string InterpreterSingleton::runString(const char *sCmd)
 
     presult = PyRun_String(sCmd, Py_file_input, dict, dict); /* eval direct */
     if (!presult) {
-        throw PyException();
+        if (PyErr_ExceptionMatches(PyExc_SystemExit))
+            throw SystemExitException();
+        else
+            throw PyException();
     }
 
     PyObject* repr = PyObject_Repr(presult);
diff --git a/src/Gui/FreeCADGuiInit.py b/src/Gui/FreeCADGuiInit.py
index e702ab326..69f87f018 100644
--- a/src/Gui/FreeCADGuiInit.py
+++ b/src/Gui/FreeCADGuiInit.py
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ class NoneWorkbench ( Workbench ):
 		return "Gui::NoneWorkbench"
 
 def InitApplications():
-	import sys,os
+	import sys,os,traceback,cStringIO
 	# Searching modules dirs +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 	# (additional module paths are already cached)
 	ModDirs = FreeCAD.__path__
@@ -113,7 +113,12 @@ def InitApplications():
 					exec open(InstallFile).read()
 				except Exception, inst:
 					Log('Init:      Initializing ' + Dir + '... failed\n')
-					Err('During initialization the error ' + str(inst) + ' occurred in ' + InstallFile + '\n')
+					Log('-'*100+'\n')
+					output=cStringIO.StringIO()
+					traceback.print_exc(file=output)
+					Log(output.getvalue())
+					Log('-'*100+'\n')
+					Err('During initialization the error ' + str(inst).decode('ascii','replace') + ' occurred in ' + InstallFile + '\n')
 				else:
 					Log('Init:      Initializing ' + Dir + '... done\n')
 			else: