How to test the stack size a c complex program requires on LINUX? (ulimit -s)

I'm not sure I understand your question, but it will depend on what is declared in each stack frame, how much recursion is used, and so on. Is there any way to post a simplified version of what you're doing, to shine some more light on your question?

Are you looking to use the smallest feasible stack for a given program? Debugging a stack overflow? I think the more you can say about what you're trying to accomplish, the better people will be able to help.

probably valgrind (or other tool) can analyze your code. That means you run it and use it and finally valgrind will create a report for you about memory usage, heap, stack, whatever. But probably there are other, better tools available out there.

Hello?

Didn't we take Algorithms in school and learn that modeling maximum stack size is technically unsolvable?

You can approximate this. But things like optimization, indirect function pointers, recursive functions, and overall system complexity make it near impossible to attain anything accurate.

There are techniques to detect overflow and monitor stack usage, however they require pre-defined conditions such as known stack locations, size, and pre-seeding of the stack with patterns, while monitoring software is also used.

@rtmistler understood that stack size is a runtime thing, can't get it until actually running it.
Just need to give users some ulimit -s guidance instead of using unlimited to run the program without crash.
For example, Oracle 11g suggest a minimal stack size of 10240K, up to 30720K

---------- Post added 06-24-15 at 03:31 PM ----------

@pan64 do you mean tool massif in valgrind?

yes, for example.