diff --git a/src/runtime2/runtime.rs b/src/runtime2/runtime.rs
index 9da208a48a371a354cd6ec2d7aece2ff4a5fdf21..bf954b4cdea2ede7f5efb75fef397e823e46f962 100644
--- a/src/runtime2/runtime.rs
+++ b/src/runtime2/runtime.rs
@@ -12,6 +12,13 @@ use super::component::{Component, wake_up_if_sleeping, CompPDL, CompCtx};
 use super::store::{ComponentStore, ComponentReservation, QueueDynMpsc, QueueDynProducer};
 use super::scheduler::*;
 
+#[derive(PartialOrd, PartialEq, Copy, Clone)]
+pub enum LogLevel {
+    Debug, // all logging (includes messages)
+    Info, // rough logging
+    None, // no logging
+}
+
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Component
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -105,6 +112,12 @@ impl CompHandle {
         }
     }
 
+    #[inline]
+    pub(crate) fn send_message_logged(&self, sched_ctx: &SchedulerCtx, message: Message, try_wake_up: bool) {
+        sched_ctx.debug(&format!("Sending message to comp:{} ... {:?}", self.id.0, message));
+        self.send_message(&sched_ctx.runtime, message, try_wake_up);
+    }
+
     pub(crate) fn id(&self) -> CompId {
         return self.id;
     }
@@ -167,7 +180,7 @@ pub struct Runtime {
 
 impl Runtime {
     // TODO: debug_logging should be removed at some point
-    pub fn new(num_threads: u32, debug_logging: bool, protocol_description: ProtocolDescription) -> Result<Runtime, RtError> {
+    pub fn new(num_threads: u32, log_level: LogLevel, protocol_description: ProtocolDescription) -> Result<Runtime, RtError> {
         if num_threads == 0 {
             return Err(rt_error!("need at least one thread to create the runtime"));
         }
@@ -179,7 +192,7 @@ impl Runtime {
             active_elements: AtomicU32::new(1),
         });
         let (polling_handle, polling_clients) = rt_error_try!(
-            PollingThread::new(runtime_inner.clone(), debug_logging),
+            PollingThread::new(runtime_inner.clone(), log_level),
             "failed to build polling thread"
         );
 
@@ -188,11 +201,20 @@ impl Runtime {
         for thread_index in 0..num_threads {
             let mut scheduler = Scheduler::new(
                 runtime_inner.clone(), polling_clients.client(),
-                thread_index, debug_logging
+                thread_index, log_level
             );
-            let thread_handle = thread::spawn(move || {
-                scheduler.run();
-            });
+
+            let thread_handle = thread::Builder::new()
+                .name(format!("scheduler:{}", thread_index))
+                .spawn(move || {
+                    scheduler.run();
+                })
+                .map_err(|reason|
+                    rt_error!(
+                        "failed to spawn scheduler thread {}, because: {}",
+                        thread_index, reason
+                    )
+                )?;
 
             scheduler_threads.push(thread_handle);
         }