diff --git a/common/CMakeLists.txt b/common/CMakeLists.txt
index 82b5cdff5f..61255cfbd8 100644
--- a/common/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/common/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ set( GAL_SRCS
     gal/opengl/vertex_manager.cpp
     gal/opengl/gpu_manager.cpp
     gal/opengl/opengl_compositor.cpp
+    gal/opengl/utils.cpp
 
     # Cairo GAL
     gal/cairo/cairo_gal.cpp
diff --git a/common/gal/opengl/utils.cpp b/common/gal/opengl/utils.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..01001bd461
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/gal/opengl/utils.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * This program source code file is part of KiCad, a free EDA CAD application.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2016 CERN
+ * @author Maciej Suminski <maciej.suminski@cern.ch>
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+ * as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+ * of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program; if not, you may find one here:
+ * http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html
+ * or you may search the http://www.gnu.org website for the version 2 license,
+ * or you may write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA
+ */
+
+#include <confirm.h>
+
+#include <GL/gl.h>
+#include <cassert>
+
+int checkGlError( const std::string& aInfo )
+{
+    int result = glGetError();
+
+    switch( result )
+    {
+        case GL_NO_ERROR:
+            // all good
+            break;
+
+        case GL_INVALID_ENUM:
+            DisplayError( NULL, wxString::Format( "Error: %s: invalid enum", aInfo ) );
+            break;
+
+        case GL_INVALID_VALUE:
+            DisplayError( NULL, wxString::Format( "Error: %s: invalid value", aInfo ) );
+            break;
+
+        case GL_INVALID_OPERATION:
+            DisplayError( NULL, wxString::Format( "Error: %s: invalid operation", aInfo ) );
+            break;
+
+        case GL_INVALID_FRAMEBUFFER_OPERATION:
+            DisplayError( NULL, wxString::Format( "Error: %s: invalid framebuffer operation", aInfo ) );
+            break;
+
+        case GL_OUT_OF_MEMORY:
+            DisplayError( NULL, wxString::Format( "Error: %s: out of memory", aInfo ) );
+            break;
+
+        case GL_STACK_UNDERFLOW:
+            DisplayError( NULL, wxString::Format( "Error: %s: stack underflow", aInfo ) );
+            break;
+
+        case GL_STACK_OVERFLOW:
+            DisplayError( NULL, wxString::Format( "Error: %s: stack overflow", aInfo ) );
+            break;
+
+        default:
+            DisplayError( NULL, wxString::Format( "Error: %s: unknown error", aInfo ) );
+            break;
+    }
+
+    //assert( result == GL_NO_ERROR );
+
+    return result;
+}
+
diff --git a/include/gal/opengl/utils.h b/include/gal/opengl/utils.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..872e932799
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/gal/opengl/utils.h
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/*
+ * This program source code file is part of KiCad, a free EDA CAD application.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2016 CERN
+ * @author Maciej Suminski <maciej.suminski@cern.ch>
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+ * as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+ * of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program; if not, you may find one here:
+ * http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html
+ * or you may search the http://www.gnu.org website for the version 2 license,
+ * or you may write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA
+ */
+
+#ifndef __OPENGL_UTILS_H
+#define __OPENGL_UTILS_H
+
+#include <string>
+
+/**
+ * @brief Checks if one of recent OpenGL operations has failed. If so, it displays appropriate
+ * message, starting with aInfo string to give more details.
+ * @return GL_NO_ERROR in case of no errors or one of GL_ constants returned by glGetError().
+ */
+int checkGlError( const std::string& aInfo );
+
+#endif /* __OPENGL_ERROR_H */