diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 00ba6844..92dff366 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ unset CDPATH
 
 function logError() {
 	local -r msg=$1
-	shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+	shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2059
 	printf >&2 "\033[0;31mERROR\033[0m: $msg\n" "$@"
 }
@@ -48,14 +48,14 @@ function die() {
 
 function logSuccess() {
 	local -r msg=$1
-	shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+	shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2059
 	printf "\033[0;32mSUCCESS\033[0m: $msg\n" "$@"
 }
 
 function logInfo() {
 	local msg=$1
-	shift || die "could not shift by 1"
+	shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2059
 	printf "\033[0;34mINFO\033[0m: $msg\n" "$@"
 }
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ function exitIfCommandDoesNotExist() {
 
 function deleteDirChmod777() {
 	local -r dir=$1
-	shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+	shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 	# e.g files in .git will be write-protected and we don't want sudo for this command
 	# yet, if it fails, then we ignore the problem and still try to delete the folder
 	chmod -R 777 "$dir" || true
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ function install() {
 	local -r tag=$1
 	local -r installDir=$2
 	local -r symbolicLink=$3
-	shift 3 || die "could not shift by 3"
+	shift 3 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 3"
 
 	local -r versionRegex="^(v[0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.[0-9]+(-RC[0-9]+)?$"
 	if ! grep -Eq "$versionRegex" >/dev/null <<<"$tag"; then
diff --git a/scripts/prepare-next-dev-cycle.sh b/scripts/prepare-next-dev-cycle.sh
index 949cd07f..7dc280fb 100755
--- a/scripts/prepare-next-dev-cycle.sh
+++ b/scripts/prepare-next-dev-cycle.sh
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ sourceOnce "$scriptsDir/before-pr.sh"
 sourceOnce "$scriptsDir/update-version-in-non-sh-files.sh"
 
 function prepareNextDevCycle() {
-	source "$dir_of_tegonal_scripts/releasing/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_tegonal_scripts/releasing/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2034   # they seem unused but are necessary in order that parseArguments doesn't create global readonly vars
 	local version projectsRootDir additionalPattern beforePrFn
diff --git a/scripts/release.sh b/scripts/release.sh
index d084c064..c93a982d 100755
--- a/scripts/release.sh
+++ b/scripts/release.sh
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ sourceOnce "$scriptsDir/prepare-next-dev-cycle.sh"
 sourceOnce "$scriptsDir/update-version-in-non-sh-files.sh"
 
 function release() {
-	source "$dir_of_tegonal_scripts/releasing/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_tegonal_scripts/releasing/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 
 	local version
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2034   # they seem unused but are necessary in order that parseArguments doesn't create global readonly vars
diff --git a/scripts/update-version-in-non-sh-files.sh b/scripts/update-version-in-non-sh-files.sh
index da272d82..c9601869 100755
--- a/scripts/update-version-in-non-sh-files.sh
+++ b/scripts/update-version-in-non-sh-files.sh
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ sourceOnce "$dir_of_tegonal_scripts/releasing/update-version-scripts.sh"
 sourceOnce "$dir_of_tegonal_scripts/utility/parse-args.sh"
 
 function updateVersionInNonShFiles() {
-	source "$dir_of_tegonal_scripts/releasing/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_tegonal_scripts/releasing/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 	local version projectsRootDir additionalPattern
 	parseArguments afterVersionHookParams "" "$GT_VERSION" "$@"
 
diff --git a/src/gt-pull.sh b/src/gt-pull.sh
index 63b361fc..98e520ae 100755
--- a/src/gt-pull.sh
+++ b/src/gt-pull.sh
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ function gt_pull() {
 	local -r currentDir
 
 	local pulledTsvLatestVersionPragma pulledTsvHeader
-	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 	local -r UNSECURE_NO_VERIFY_PATTERN='--unsecure-no-verification'
 
 	local remote tag path pullDir chopPath workingDir autoTrust unsecure forceNoVerification
@@ -145,14 +145,14 @@ function gt_pull() {
 	exitIfRemoteDirDoesNotExist "$workingDirAbsolute" "$remote"
 
 	local publicKeysDir repo gpgDir pulledTsv pullHookFile
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	if ! [[ -d $pullDirAbsolute ]]; then
 		mkdir -p "$pullDirAbsolute" || die "failed to create the pull directory %s" "$pullDirAbsolute"
 	fi
 
 	if ! [[ -f $pulledTsv ]]; then
-		echo "$pulledTsvLatestVersionPragma"$'\n'"$pulledTsvHeader" >"$pulledTsv" || die "failed to initialise the pulled.tsv file at %s" "$pulledTsv"
+		echo "$pulledTsvLatestVersionPragma"$'\n'"$pulledTsvHeader" >"$pulledTsv" || die "failed to initialise the pulled.tsv file at \033[0;36m%s\033[0m" "$pulledTsv"
 	else
 		exitIfHeaderOfPulledTsvIsWrong "$pulledTsv"
 	fi
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ function gt_pull() {
 	local tagToPull="$tag"
 	# tag was actually omitted, so we use the latest remote tag instead
 	if [[ $tag == "$fakeTag" ]]; then
-		tagToPull=$(latestRemoteTagIncludingChecks "$workingDirAbsolute" "$remote") || die "could not determine latest tag, see above"
+		tagToPull=$(latestRemoteTagIncludingChecks "$workingDirAbsolute" "$remote") || die "could not determine latest tag of remote \033[0;36m%s\033[0m, see above" "$remote"
 	fi
 	local -r tagToPull
 
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ function gt_pull() {
 	local pullHookAfter="gt_pull_noop"
 	if [[ -f $pullHookFile ]]; then
 		# shellcheck disable=SC2310		# we are aware of that || will disable set -e for sourceOnce
-		sourceOnce "$pullHookFile" || die "could not source %s" "$pullHookFile"
+		sourceOnce "$pullHookFile" || traceAndDie "could not source %s" "$pullHookFile"
 		pullHookBefore="gt_pullHook_${remote//-/_}_before"
 		pullHookAfter="gt_pullHook_${remote//-/_}_after"
 	fi
diff --git a/src/gt-re-pull.sh b/src/gt-re-pull.sh
index a9861e33..62be2f07 100755
--- a/src/gt-re-pull.sh
+++ b/src/gt-re-pull.sh
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ function gt_re_pull() {
 	startTime=$(date +%s.%3N)
 
 	local defaultWorkingDir
-	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 
 	local -r onlyMissingPattern="--only-missing"
 
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ function gt_re_pull() {
 	function gt_re_pull_incrementError() {
 		local -r entryFile=$1
 		local -r remote=$2
-		shift 2 || die "could not shift by 2"
+		shift 2 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 2"
 		logError "could not pull \033[0;36m%s\033[0m from remote %s" "$entryFile" "$remote"
 		((++errors))
 	}
@@ -108,10 +108,10 @@ function gt_re_pull() {
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2317   # called by name
 	function gt_re_pull_rePullInternal() {
 		local -r remote=$1
-		shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+		shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 
 		local repo
-		source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+		source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 		function gt_re_pull_rePullInternal_callback() {
 			local entryTag entryFile _entryRelativePath entryAbsolutePath
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ function gt_re_pull() {
 
 	function gt_re_pull_rePullRemote() {
 		local -r remote=$1
-		shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+		shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 		withCustomOutputInput 5 6 gt_re_pull_rePullInternal "$remote"
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/gt-remote.sh b/src/gt-remote.sh
index 32c9fd8b..c72a6c57 100755
--- a/src/gt-remote.sh
+++ b/src/gt-remote.sh
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ function gt_remote_cleanupRemoteOnUnexpectedExit() {
 
 	local -r remoteDir=$1
 	local -r currentDir=$2
-	shift 2 || die "could not shift by 2"
+	shift 2 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 2"
 
 	if ! ((result == 0)) && [[ -d $remoteDir ]]; then
 		deleteDirChmod777 "$remoteDir"
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ function gt_remote_cleanupRemoteOnUnexpectedExit() {
 }
 
 function gt_remote_add() {
-	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 
 	local currentDir
 	currentDir=$(pwd) || die "could not determine currentDir, maybe it does not exist anymore?"
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ function gt_remote_add() {
 	mkdir -p "$workingDirAbsolute/remotes" || die "was not able to create directory %s" "$workingDirAbsolute/remotes"
 
 	local remoteDir publicKeysDir repo gpgDir pullArgsFile gitconfig
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	if [[ -f $remoteDir ]]; then
 		die "cannot create remote directory, there is a file at this location: %s" "$remoteDir"
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ function gt_remote_list_raw() {
 
 	local remotesDir
 	local -r remote="not really a remote but paths.source.sh requires it, hence we set it here but don't use it afterwards"
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	local cutLength
 	cutLength=$((${#remotesDir} + 2))
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ function gt_remote_list() {
 }
 
 function gt_remote_remove() {
-	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 
 	local remote workingDir
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2034   # is passed by name to parseArguments
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ function gt_remote_remove() {
 	local -r workingDirAbsolute
 
 	local remoteDir pulledTsv pullHookFile
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	if [[ -f $remoteDir ]]; then
 		logError "cannot delete remote \033[0;36m%s\033[0m, looks like it is broken there is a file at this location: %s" "$remote" "$remoteDir"
diff --git a/src/gt-reset.sh b/src/gt-reset.sh
index b3cca1cd..1d368f62 100755
--- a/src/gt-reset.sh
+++ b/src/gt-reset.sh
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ sourceOnce "$dir_of_tegonal_scripts/utility/parse-args.sh"
 
 function gt_reset() {
 	local defaultWorkingDir unsecureParamPattern
-	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 
 	local remote workingDir
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2034   # is passed by name to parseArguments
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ function gt_reset() {
 		exitIfRepoBrokenAndReInitIfAbsent "$workingDirAbsolute" "$remote"
 
 		local publicKeysDir gpgDir repo pullArgsFile
-		source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+		source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 		if [[ -d $publicKeysDir ]]; then
 			logInfo "Going to re-establish gpg trust in remote \033[0;36m%s\033[0m, removing %s" "$remote" "$publicKeysDir"
 			deleteDirChmod777 "$publicKeysDir" || die "could not delete the public keys dir of remote \033[0;36m%s\033[0m" "$remote"
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ function gt_reset() {
 
 	if [[ -n $remote ]]; then
 		#shellcheck disable=SC2310		# we know that set -e is disabled for gt_reset_resetRemote due to ||
-		gt_reset_resetRemote "$remote" || die "could not remove gpg directory for remote %s, see above" "$remote"
+		gt_reset_resetRemote "$remote" || die "could not remove gpg directory for remote \033[0;36m%s\033[0m, see above" "$remote"
 		if [[ $gpgOnly != true ]]; then
 			gt_re_pull -w "$workingDirAbsolute" --only-missing false -r "$remote"
 		fi
diff --git a/src/gt-self-update.sh b/src/gt-self-update.sh
index 80c2b7e4..23404d67 100755
--- a/src/gt-self-update.sh
+++ b/src/gt-self-update.sh
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ function gt_self_update() {
 				printf ", but '%s true' was specified, going to re-install it\n" "$forcePattern"
 			fi
 		fi
-		cd "$currentDir" || die "could not cd back to the current dir"
+		cd "$currentDir" || die "could not cd back to the current dir %s" "$currentDir"
 	else
 		logInfo "looks like you did not install gt via install.sh (%s does not exist)" "$installDir/.git"
 		if ! askYesOrNo "Do you want to run the following command to replace the current installation with the latest version:\ninstall.sh --directory \"%s\"" "$installDir"; then
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ function gt_self_update() {
 	local tmpDir
 	tmpDir=$(mktemp -d -t gt-install-XXXXXXXXXX)
 	cp -r "$installDir" "$tmpDir/gt"
-	cd "$tmpDir/gt" || die "could not cd to the tmpDir, see above"
+	cd "$tmpDir/gt" || die "could not cd to the tmpDir %s, see above" "$tmpDir/gt"
 	./install.sh --directory "$installDir"
 }
 
diff --git a/src/gt-update.sh b/src/gt-update.sh
index aec475bb..2270540d 100755
--- a/src/gt-update.sh
+++ b/src/gt-update.sh
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ function gt_update() {
 	startTime=$(date +%s.%3N)
 
 	local defaultWorkingDir
-	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 
 	local remote workingDir autoTrust tag
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2034   # is passed by name to parseFnArgs
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ function gt_update() {
 	function gt_update_incrementError() {
 		local -r entryFile=$1
 		local -r remote=$2
-		shift 2 || die "could not shift by 2"
+		shift 2 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 2"
 		logError "could not pull \033[0;36m%s\033[0m from remote %s" "$entryFile" "$remote"
 		((++errors))
 	}
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ function gt_update() {
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2317   # called by name
 	function gt_update_rePullInternal() {
 		local -r remote=$1
-		shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+		shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 
 		local tagToPull
 		if [[ -n $tag ]]; then
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ function gt_update() {
 
 	function gt_update_rePullRemote() {
 		local -r remote=$1
-		shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+		shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 
 		exitIfRemoteDirDoesNotExist "$workingDir" "$remote"
 
diff --git a/src/gt.sh b/src/gt.sh
index ea69a87c..3fe4db38 100755
--- a/src/gt.sh
+++ b/src/gt.sh
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ sourceOnce "$dir_of_tegonal_scripts/utility/parse-commands.sh"
 
 function gt_source() {
 	local -r command=$1
-	shift || die "could not shift by 1"
+	shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 	sourceOnce "$dir_of_gt/gt-$command.sh"
 }
 
diff --git a/src/install/include-install-doc.sh b/src/install/include-install-doc.sh
index 7be04a61..a4d9b3a5 100755
--- a/src/install/include-install-doc.sh
+++ b/src/install/include-install-doc.sh
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ function includeInstallDoc() {
 	# using unconventional naming in order to avoid name clashes with the variables we will initialise further below
 	local -r installDocSh=$1
 	local -rn includeInstallDoc_files=$2
-	shift 2 || die "could not shift by 2"
+	shift 2 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 2"
 
 	if ! [[ -f "$installDocSh" ]]; then
 		returnDying "%s does not exist" "$installDocSh"
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ function includeInstallDoc() {
 		perl -0777 -i \
 			-pe "s@(\n\s+# see install.doc.sh.*\n)[^#]+(# end install.doc.sh\n)@\${1}$content\n$indent\${2}@g" \
 			"$file" || return $?
-	done || die "could not replace the install instructions"
+	done || traceAndDie "could not replace the install instructions"
 }
 
 ${__SOURCED__:+return}
diff --git a/src/pulled-utils.sh b/src/pulled-utils.sh
index 877e2248..68bc80df 100644
--- a/src/pulled-utils.sh
+++ b/src/pulled-utils.sh
@@ -41,11 +41,11 @@ function pulledTsvEntry() {
 
 function migratePulledTsvFormat() {
 	local pulledTsvLatestVersionPragma
-	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 	local -r pulledTsv=$1
 	local -r fromVersion=$2
 	local -r toVersion=$3
-	shift 3 || die "could not shift by 2"
+	shift 3 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 2"
 
 	if [[ $fromVersion == "unspecified" ]]; then
 		# pulled.tsv without version pragma, convert to current
@@ -60,10 +60,10 @@ function migratePulledTsvFormat() {
 
 function exitIfHeaderOfPulledTsvIsWrong() {
 	local -r pulledTsv=$1
-	shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+	shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 
 	local pulledTsvLatestVersion pulledTsvLatestVersionPragma pulledTsvHeader
-	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 
 	local currentVersionPragma currentHeader
 	currentVersionPragma="$(head -n 1 "$pulledTsv")" || die "could not read the current pulled.tsv at %s" "$pulledTsv"
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ function setEntryVariables() {
 function grepPulledEntryByFile() {
 	local -r pulledTsv=$1
 	local -r file=$2
-	shift 2 || die "could not shift by 2"
+	shift 2 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 2"
 	grep -E "^[^\t]+	$file" "$@" "$pulledTsv"
 }
 
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ function readPulledTsv() {
 	exitIfArgIsNotFunction "$readPulledTsv_callback" 3
 
 	local pulledTsv
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 	if ! [[ -f $pulledTsv ]]; then
 		logWarning "Looks like remote \033[0;36m%s\033[0m is broken or no file has been fetched so far, there is no pulled.tsv, skipping it" "$remote"
 		return 0
diff --git a/src/utils.sh b/src/utils.sh
index 9d92166b..70ce43fa 100644
--- a/src/utils.sh
+++ b/src/utils.sh
@@ -43,13 +43,13 @@ function exitBecauseNoGpgKeysImported() {
 
 function findAscInDir() {
 	local -r dir=$1
-	shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+	shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 	find "$dir" -maxdepth 1 -type f -name "*.asc" "$@"
 }
 
 function noAscInDir() {
 	local -r dir=$1
-	shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+	shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 	local numberOfAsc
 	#shellcheck disable=SC2310			# we are aware of that set -e is disabled for findAscInDir
 	numberOfAsc=$(findAscInDir "$dir" | wc -l) || die "could not determine the number of *.asc files in dir %s, see errors above (use \`gt reset\` to re-import the remote's GPG keys)" "$dir"
@@ -58,10 +58,10 @@ function noAscInDir() {
 
 function checkWorkingDirExists() {
 	local workingDirAbsolute=$1
-	shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+	shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 
 	local workingDirParamPattern
-	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 
 	if ! [[ -d $workingDirAbsolute ]]; then
 		logError "working directory \033[0;36m%s\033[0m does not exist" "$workingDirAbsolute"
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ function exitIfRemoteDirDoesNotExist() {
 	parseFnArgs params "$@"
 
 	local remoteDir
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	if ! [[ -d $remoteDir ]]; then
 		logError "remote \033[0;36m%s\033[0m does not exist, check for typos.\nFollowing the remotes which exist:" "$remote"
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ function exitIfRemoteDirDoesNotExist() {
 
 function invertBool() {
 	local b=$1
-	shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+	shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 	if [[ $b == true ]]; then
 		echo "false"
 	else
@@ -104,9 +104,9 @@ function invertBool() {
 
 function gitDiffChars() {
 	local hash1 hash2
-	hash1=$(git hash-object -w --stdin <<<"$1") || die "cannot calculate hash for string: %" "$1"
-	hash2=$(git hash-object -w --stdin <<<"$2") || die "cannot calculate hash for string: %" "$2"
-	shift 2 || die "could not shift by 2"
+	hash1=$(git hash-object -w --stdin <<<"$1") || traceAndDie "cannot calculate hash for string: %" "$1"
+	hash2=$(git hash-object -w --stdin <<<"$2") || traceAndDie "cannot calculate hash for string: %" "$2"
+	shift 2 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 2"
 
 	git --no-pager diff "$hash1" "$hash2" \
 		--word-diff=color --word-diff-regex . --ws-error-highlight=all |
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ function initialiseGitDir() {
 	parseFnArgs params "$@"
 
 	local repo gitconfig
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	mkdir -p "$repo" || die "could not create the repo at %s" "$repo"
 	git --git-dir="$repo/.git" init || die "could not git init the repo at %s" "$repo"
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ function askToDeleteAndReInitialiseGitDirIfRemoteIsBroken() {
 	parseFnArgs params "$@"
 
 	local repo gitconfig
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	if ! git --git-dir="$repo/.git" remote | grep "$remote" >/dev/null; then
 		logError "looks like the .git directory of remote \033[0;36m%s\033[0m is broken. There is no remote %s set up in its gitconfig. Following the remotes:" "$remote" "$remote"
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ function reInitialiseGitDirIfDotGitNotPresent() {
 	parseFnArgs params "$@"
 
 	local repo
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	if ! [[ -d "$repo/.git" ]]; then
 		logInfo "repo directory (or its .git directory) does not exist for remote \033[0;36m%s\033[0m. We are going to re-initialise it based on the stored gitconfig" "$remote"
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ function reInitialiseGitDirIfDotGitNotPresent() {
 
 function initialiseGpgDir() {
 	local -r gpgDir=$1
-	shift 1 || die "could not shift by 1"
+	shift 1 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 1"
 	mkdir "$gpgDir" || die "could not create the gpg directory at %s" "$gpgDir"
 	# it's OK if we are not able to set the rights as we only use it temporary. This will cause warnings by gpg
 	# so the user could be aware of that something went wrong
@@ -190,10 +190,10 @@ function latestRemoteTagIncludingChecks() {
 	parseFnArgs params "$@"
 
 	local repo
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	local tagParamPattern
-	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 
 	logInfo >&2 "no tag provided via argument %s, will determine latest and use it instead" "$tagParamPattern"
 	local tag
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ function validateGpgKeysAndImport() {
 	exitIfArgIsNotFunction "$validateGpgKeysAndImport_callback" 4
 
 	local autoTrustParamPattern
-	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || die "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/common-constants.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source common-constants.source.sh"
 
 	local -r sigExtension="sig"
 
@@ -276,16 +276,16 @@ function importRemotesPulledPublicKeys() {
 	exitIfArgIsNotFunction "$importRemotesPulledPublicKeys_callback" 3
 
 	local gpgDir publicKeysDir repo
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2317   # called by name
 	function importRemotesPublicKeys_importKeyCallback() {
 		local -r publicKey=$1
 		local -r sig=$2
-		shift 2 || die "could not shift by 2"
+		shift 2 || traceAndDie "could not shift by 2"
 
-		mv "$publicKey" "$publicKeysDir/" || die "unable to move public key %s into public keys directory %s" "$publicKey" "$publicKeysDir"
-		mv "$sig" "$publicKeysDir/" || die "unable to move the public key's signature %s into public keys directory %s" "$sig" "$publicKeysDir"
+		mv "$publicKey" "$publicKeysDir/" || die "unable to move public key \033[0;36m%s\033[0m into public keys directory %s" "$publicKey" "$publicKeysDir"
+		mv "$sig" "$publicKeysDir/" || die "unable to move the public key's signature \033[0;36m%s\033[0m into public keys directory %s" "$sig" "$publicKeysDir"
 		"$importRemotesPulledPublicKeys_callback" "$publicKey" "$sig"
 	}
 	validateGpgKeysAndImport "$repo/.gt" "$gpgDir" "$publicKeysDir" importRemotesPublicKeys_importKeyCallback false
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ function determineDefaultBranch() {
 	parseFnArgs params "$@"
 
 	local repo
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	git --git-dir "$repo/.git"  remote show "$remote" | sed -n '/HEAD branch/s/.*: //p' ||
 		(
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ function checkoutGtDir() {
 	parseFnArgs params "$@"
 
 	local repo
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	git -C "$repo" fetch --depth 1 "$remote" "$branch" || die "was not able to \033[0;36mgit fetch\033[0m from remote \033[0;36m%s\033[0m" "$remote"
 	# execute as if we are inside repo as we want to checkout there, remove all folders
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ function exitIfRepoBrokenAndReInitIfAbsent() {
 	parseFnArgs params "$@"
 
 	local remoteDir repo
-	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || die "could not source paths.source.sh"
+	source "$dir_of_gt/paths.source.sh" || traceAndDie "could not source paths.source.sh"
 
 	if [[ -f $repo ]]; then
 		die "looks like the remote \033[0;36m%s\033[0m is broken there is a file at the repo's location: %s" "$remote" "$remoteDir"