diff --git a/libs/renderengine/include/renderengine/RenderEngine.h b/libs/renderengine/include/renderengine/RenderEngine.h
index d1bbcc5..f805be5 100644
--- a/libs/renderengine/include/renderengine/RenderEngine.h
+++ b/libs/renderengine/include/renderengine/RenderEngine.h
@@ -48,6 +48,11 @@
  */
 #define PROPERTY_DEBUG_RENDERENGINE_CAPTURE_FILENAME "debug.renderengine.capture_filename"
 
+/**
+ * Allows recording of Skia drawing commands with systrace.
+ */
+#define PROPERTY_SKIA_ATRACE_ENABLED "debug.renderengine.skia_atrace_enabled"
+
 struct ANativeWindowBuffer;
 
 namespace android {
@@ -94,10 +99,6 @@
 
     static std::unique_ptr<RenderEngine> create(const RenderEngineCreationArgs& args);
 
-    RenderEngine() : RenderEngine(RenderEngineType::GLES) {}
-
-    RenderEngine(RenderEngineType type) : mRenderEngineType(type) {}
-
     virtual ~RenderEngine() = 0;
 
     // ----- BEGIN DEPRECATED INTERFACE -----
@@ -204,6 +205,10 @@
     static void validateOutputBufferUsage(const sp<GraphicBuffer>&);
 
 protected:
+    RenderEngine() : RenderEngine(RenderEngineType::GLES) {}
+
+    RenderEngine(RenderEngineType type) : mRenderEngineType(type) {}
+
     // Maps GPU resources for this buffer.
     // Note that work may be deferred to an additional thread, i.e. this call
     // is made asynchronously, but the caller can expect that map/unmap calls
diff --git a/libs/renderengine/skia/SkiaRenderEngine.cpp b/libs/renderengine/skia/SkiaRenderEngine.cpp
index 81f0b6f..29175a2 100644
--- a/libs/renderengine/skia/SkiaRenderEngine.cpp
+++ b/libs/renderengine/skia/SkiaRenderEngine.cpp
@@ -14,13 +14,22 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-//#define LOG_NDEBUG 0
 #undef LOG_TAG
 #define LOG_TAG "RenderEngine"
 #define ATRACE_TAG ATRACE_TAG_GRAPHICS
 
+#include "SkiaRenderEngine.h"
+
+#include <android-base/properties.h>
+#include <src/core/SkTraceEventCommon.h>
+
 namespace android {
 namespace renderengine {
-namespace skia {} // namespace skia
+namespace skia {
+SkiaRenderEngine::SkiaRenderEngine(RenderEngineType type) : RenderEngine(type) {
+    SkAndroidFrameworkTraceUtil::setEnableTracing(
+            base::GetBoolProperty(PROPERTY_SKIA_ATRACE_ENABLED, false));
+}
+} // namespace skia
 } // namespace renderengine
-} // namespace android
\ No newline at end of file
+} // namespace android
diff --git a/libs/renderengine/skia/SkiaRenderEngine.h b/libs/renderengine/skia/SkiaRenderEngine.h
index 308c5ff..7bb6d6d 100644
--- a/libs/renderengine/skia/SkiaRenderEngine.h
+++ b/libs/renderengine/skia/SkiaRenderEngine.h
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 class SkiaRenderEngine : public RenderEngine {
 public:
     static std::unique_ptr<SkiaRenderEngine> create(const RenderEngineCreationArgs& args);
-    SkiaRenderEngine(RenderEngineType type) : RenderEngine(type) {}
+    SkiaRenderEngine(RenderEngineType type);
     ~SkiaRenderEngine() override {}
 
     virtual void primeCache() override{};
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@
 
 protected:
     virtual void mapExternalTextureBuffer(const sp<GraphicBuffer>& /*buffer*/,
-                                          bool /*isRenderable*/) override;
-    virtual void unmapExternalTextureBuffer(const sp<GraphicBuffer>& /*buffer*/) override;
+                                          bool /*isRenderable*/) override = 0;
+    virtual void unmapExternalTextureBuffer(const sp<GraphicBuffer>& /*buffer*/) override = 0;
 };
 
 } // namespace skia