Maximum size of stack of multi threaded process

Question

As per my understanding

each thread of a process gets a stack, while there's typically only one heap for the process.
There is default stack max size limit set by OS.
1. Windows-64 bit : 1MB
2. Linux-64 bit : 8MB

Is this limit applicable at process level or each thread can have 1MB/8MB stack?

And what happens to the memory allotted to stack after thread exit?

Jeremy Friesner · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-11 05:47:53Z

6

each thread of a process gets a stack, while there's typically only one heap for the process.

That's correct.

Is this limit applicable at process level or each thread can have 1MB/8MB stack?

Each thread gets its own stack; the stack-size-limit is per-thread (i.e. it is not a shared limit for all threads in the process)

And what happens to the memory allotted to stack after thread exit?

The memory pages are released and become available for use by other code in the future.

answered May 11, 2019 at 5:47

Jeremy Friesner

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3 Comments

alk Over a year ago

"The memory pages are released and become available for use by other code in the future. On exit of a thread this only happens for a detached thread, for an undetached thread (which at least for POSIX threads is the default) this happens when the thread is joined.

Michael Chourdakis Over a year ago

@alk There is nothing like detached or undetached thing in the underlying tech of a thread, the detached/undetached stuff is at the C level.

Andrew Henle Over a year ago

@MichaelChourdakis Nor do threads have stacks - something has to manage the stack for a thread. The stack is managed by the same mechanisms that manage detached/undetached.

user3344003 · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-11 15:26:02Z

1

each thread of a process gets a stack, while there's typically only one heap for the process.

The former is true. The latter is false. Processes frequently have multiple heaps, especially when linking in 3d party code.

Is this limit applicable at process level or each thread can have 1MB/8MB stack?

Per thread.

And what happens to the memory allotted to stack after thread exit?

Typically they will remain allocated to the process until the process exits and the address space no longer exists.

answered May 11, 2019 at 15:26

user3344003

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