Hi folks,

I'm looking for guinea pigs for a particular test.


Here's the background:

A while ago we (well, some of you) were having issues with crashes due 
to insufficient thread stack size on Mac OS X, or in one case even on 
Linux; we solved these issues with a workaround to override the 
per-thread stack size (or, in the Linux case, increase that override).

In the meantime, some changes have been made to the code which should 
have reduced POV-Ray's stack requirements, so my hope is that the 
workaround is no longer necessary - which would be great news, because 
we could get rid of the entire boost thread library.


Here's where you come in:

If you have ever experienced problems related to the thread stack size, 
and still have a scene available that ran into these issues, then I'd 
like to enlist your help.

@dick balaska:

I'm not sure if you're aware, but I know you were affected; see your 
post on 2017-02-12 in povray.beta-test titled "crash in origin/master" 
(http://news.povray.org/povray.beta-test/thread/%3C58a1e32f%241%40news.povray.org%3E/)


Here's what I'd like you to do:


(1) Reproduce the old problem and workaround [optional]

- Grab the source code of a sufficiently OLD v3.8.0-alpha (BEFORE 
v3.8.0-alpha.9436902; anything built BEFORE December 2017 should do), 
v3.7.1-alpha/beta or even the latest v3.7.0.

- In the file `source/backend/configbackend.h`, place the following 
lines at the end of the file:

     #undef POV_THREAD_STACK_SIZE
     #define POV_THREAD_STACK_SIZE (512 * 1024) // 512 KiB

- Build POV-Ray.

- Run whatever scene you remember crashing on you.

- Verify that the scene does indeed crash. (If not, your scene does not 
seem to be a suitable test candidate.)

- If you want to go the extra mile, increase POV_THREAD_STACK_SIZE to 
see at which size the scene ceases to crash. (I recommend doubling the 
value; you shouldn't have to go any further than 8*1024*1024.)


(2) Test whether the workaround is still required

- Grab the source code of a sufficiently NEW v3.8.0-alpha (AT LEAST 
v3.8.0-alpha.9436902 or newer; anything built in 2018 or 2019 should do; 
I'd recommend the newest tagged alpha though).

- Apply the same changes to `source/backend/configbackend.h` as 
described above.

- Build POV-Ray.

- Run your test scene.

- Observe whether the scene crashes or not.

- If you want to go the extra mile, change POV_THREAD_STACK_SIZE to see 
at which size the behaviour changes: If the scene crashes, increase the 
value until it ceases to; if the scene does not crash, decrease the 
value until it does. (I recommend doubling / halving the value.)


(3) Report your observations.


Your help is very much appreciated!

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