diff --git a/Athena/src/core.h b/Athena/src/core.h
index 3cba099..7c2c7ac 100644
--- a/Athena/src/core.h
+++ b/Athena/src/core.h
@@ -2,11 +2,17 @@
 #ifndef CORE
 #define CORE
 	#ifdef AT_CPP_API
-		#ifdef AT_BUILD_DLL
-		#define AT_API __declspec(dllexport)
+		#if defined(_WIN32) || defined(_WIN64)
+			#ifdef AT_BUILD_DLL
+			#define AT_API __declspec(dllexport)
+			#else
+			#define AT_API __declspec(dllimport)
+			#endif // AT_BUILD_DLL
 		#else
-		#define AT_API __declspec(dllimport)
-		#endif // AT_BUILD_DLL
+			#ifdef AT_BUILD_DLL
+				#define AT_API __attribute__((visibility("default")))
+			#endif
+		#endif
 	#else
 		#define AT_API
 	#endif // AT_CPP_API
diff --git a/Athena/src/exceptions/badStreamException.h b/Athena/src/exceptions/badStreamException.h
index 5da23be..10f11db 100644
--- a/Athena/src/exceptions/badStreamException.h
+++ b/Athena/src/exceptions/badStreamException.h
@@ -2,16 +2,16 @@
 #ifndef BAD_STREAM_EXCEPTION
 #define BAD_STREAM_EXCEPTION
 
-#include <exception>
+#include <stdexcept>
 #include <iostream>
 namespace athena
 {
 	namespace exceptions
 	{
-		class badStreamException : public std::exception
+		class badStreamException : public std::runtime_error
 		{
 		public:
-			badStreamException(const char* error) : std::exception("[athena] a badStream error occured")
+			badStreamException(const char* error) : std::runtime_error("[athena] a badStream error occured")
 			{
 				std::cerr << "[Athena] badStream error: " << error << std::endl;
 			};
diff --git a/Athena/src/exceptions/compressionException.h b/Athena/src/exceptions/compressionException.h
index 3134048..e48febd 100644
--- a/Athena/src/exceptions/compressionException.h
+++ b/Athena/src/exceptions/compressionException.h
@@ -3,17 +3,17 @@
 #define COMPRESSION_ERROR
 #include <core.h>
 
-#include <exception>
+#include <stdexcept>
 #include <iostream>
 
 namespace athena
 {
 	namespace exceptions 
 	{
-		class compressionException : public std::exception
+		class compressionException : public std::runtime_error
 		{
 		public:
-			compressionException(const char* error) : std::exception("[athena] a compression error occured")
+			compressionException(const char* error) : std::runtime_error("[athena] a compression error occured")
 			{
 				std::cerr << "[Athena] compression error: " << error << std::endl;
 			};
diff --git a/Athena/src/exceptions/indexBoundsException.h b/Athena/src/exceptions/indexBoundsException.h
index 249f4ec..309dba3 100644
--- a/Athena/src/exceptions/indexBoundsException.h
+++ b/Athena/src/exceptions/indexBoundsException.h
@@ -4,17 +4,17 @@
 
 #include <core.h>
 
-#include <exception>
+#include <stdexcept>
 #include <iostream>
 
 namespace athena 
 {
 	namespace exceptions 
 	{
-		class AT_API indexOutOfBoundsException : public std::exception
+		class AT_API indexOutOfBoundsException : public std::runtime_error
 		{
 		public:
-			indexOutOfBoundsException(const char* msg) : std::exception("[athena] index was out of bounds!")
+			indexOutOfBoundsException(const char* msg) : std::runtime_error("[athena] index was out of bounds!")
 			{
 				std::cerr << "[Athena] indexOutOfBoundsException: " << msg << std::endl;
 			}
diff --git a/Athena/src/util/buffer.h b/Athena/src/util/buffer.h
index d8db9af..a84dd09 100644
--- a/Athena/src/util/buffer.h
+++ b/Athena/src/util/buffer.h
@@ -3,6 +3,14 @@
 #define BUFFER
 #include <vector>
 #include <type_traits>
+#include <cstdint>
+#include <cstring>
+#include <malloc.h>
+
+#ifdef __linux__
+#include <safe_str_lib.h>
+#include <safe_mem_lib.h>
+#endif
 
 namespace athena
 {
@@ -40,7 +48,7 @@ namespace athena
         static constexpr bool value = type::value;
     };
 
-	class buffer 
+	class buffer
 	{
 	public:
 #pragma region write
@@ -117,10 +125,10 @@ namespace athena
             else
                 memcpy_s(reinterpret_cast<char*>(p_struct), structSize, p_src, structSize);
 
-            
+
             delete[] p_src;
             return *p_struct;
-            
+
         }
 
         template<typename T>
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f511016..2b48f14 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ Athena is ideal for developers who need a high-performance, flexible solution fo
 ```
 to build run BUILD.bat or BUILD.sh.
 this just runs the python build.py script for convenience.
+
+on Linux, ensure libsafec is installed:
+sudo apt install libsafec-dev
 ```
 [more info](build.md)
 ## 2) example:
diff --git a/premake5.lua b/premake5.lua
index f0dd7a0..5864df6 100644
--- a/premake5.lua
+++ b/premake5.lua
@@ -128,6 +128,14 @@ project "Athena"
             optimize "On"
 
     filter "system:linux"
+        links
+	    {
+	        "safec"
+	    }
+        includedirs
+        {
+            "/usr/include/safeclib"
+        }
         filter "configurations:debug"
             symbols "On"
         filter "configurations:release"
@@ -179,6 +187,14 @@ project "sandbox"
             optimize "On"
 
     filter "system:linux"
+        links
+	    {
+	        "safec"
+	    }
+        includedirs
+        {
+            "/usr/include/safeclib"
+        }
         filter "configurations:debug"
             symbols "On"
         filter "configurations:release"
@@ -190,4 +206,4 @@ project "sandbox"
     if _OPTIONS["enable-WSL"] then
         toolchainversion "wsl2"
     end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end