linux-os \(Dick Johnson\) <linux-os@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[...]
Throughout the past two years of 4k stack-wars, I never heard why
such a small stack was needed (not wanted, needed). It seems that
everybody "knows" that smaller is better and most everybody thinks
that one page in ix86 land is "optimum". However I don't think
anybody ever even tried to analyze what was better from a technical
perspective. Instead it's been analyzed as religious dogma, i.e.,
keep the stack small, it will prevent idiots from doing bad things.
OK, so here goes again...
The kernel stack has to be contiguous in /physical/ memory. Keep the stack
/one/ page, that way you can always get a new stack when needed (== each
fork(2) or clone(2)). If the stack is 2 (or more) pages, you'll have to
find (or create) a multi-page free area, and (fragmentation being what it
is, and Linux routinely running for months at a time) you are in a whole
new world of pain.