Is there a maximum limit to the size of a variable

Question

i declared a struct variable in C of size greater than 1024bytes. On running Coverity (a static code analyzer application) it reports that this stack variable is greater than 1024 bytes and therefore a cause of error. I'd like to know if I need to worry about this warning? Is there really a maximum limit to the size of a single stack variable?

thanks, che

Answer 1

If your function was involved (directly or indirectly) in recursion, then allocating a large amount on the stack would limit the depth of recursion and might well blow the stack. Under Windows this stack reserve defaults to 1MB, though you can increase it statically with linker commands. The stack will grow as it is used, but the operating system sometimes cannot extend it. I discuss this in a little more detail on my website here.