Stack Size Estimation

Question

In multi-threaded embedded software (written in C or C++), a thread must be given enough stack space in order to allow it to complete its operations without overflowing. Co

Answer 1

This is not an offline method but on the project that I am working on we have a debug command that reads the high water mark on all of the task stacks within the application. This outputs a table of the stack usage for each task and the amount of headroom available. Checking this data after a 24 hour run with lots of user interaction gives us some confidence that the defined stack allocations are "safe".

This works using the well tried technique of filling the stacks with a known pattern and assuming that the only way that this can be re-written is by the normal stack usage, although if it is being written by any other means a stack overflow is the least of your worries!