diff -r 56e9c709db7e include/SDL_hints.h
--- a/include/SDL_hints.h   mié feb 12 18:12:14 2014 -0300
+++ b/include/SDL_hints.h   mié feb 12 18:57:52 2014 -0300
@@ -347,6 +347,18 @@
 */
 #define SDL_HINT_VIDEO_WINDOW_SHARE_PIXEL_FORMAT    "SDL_VIDEO_WINDOW_SHARE_PIXEL_FORMAT"
 
+
+/**
+*  \brief  A string specifying SDL's threads stack size in bytes or "-1" for the backend's default size
+*
+*  Use this hint in case you need to set SDL's threads stack size to other than the default.
+*  This is specially useful if you build SDL against a non glibc libc library (such as musl) which
+*  provides a relatively small default thread stack size (a few kilobytes versus the default 8MB glibc uses).
+*  Support for this hint is currenly available only in the pthread backend.
+*  As a precaution, this hint can not be set via an environment variable.
+*/
+#define SDL_HINT_THREAD_STACK_SIZE              "SDL_THREAD_STACK_SIZE"
+
 /**
  *  \brief  An enumeration of hint priorities
  */
diff -r 56e9c709db7e src/SDL.c
--- a/src/SDL.c mié feb 12 18:12:14 2014 -0300
+++ b/src/SDL.c mié feb 12 18:57:52 2014 -0300
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@
 int
 SDL_InitSubSystem(Uint32 flags)
 {
+    static Uint32 hints_initialized = SDL_FALSE;
     if (!SDL_MainIsReady) {
         SDL_SetError("Application didn't initialize properly, did you include SDL_main.h in the file containing your main() function?");
         return -1;
@@ -113,6 +114,13 @@
 
     /* Clear the error message */
     SDL_ClearError();
+    
+    if (hints_initialized == SDL_FALSE) {
+        /* Set a default of -1 for SDL_HINT_THREAD_STACK_SIZE to prevent the
+           end user from interfering it's value with environment variables */
+        SDL_SetHintWithPriority(SDL_HINT_THREAD_STACK_SIZE, "-1", SDL_HINT_OVERRIDE);
+        hints_initialized = SDL_TRUE;
+    }
 
 #if SDL_VIDEO_DRIVER_WINDOWS
    if ((flags & (SDL_INIT_HAPTIC|SDL_INIT_JOYSTICK))) {
diff -r 56e9c709db7e src/thread/pthread/SDL_systhread.c
--- a/src/thread/pthread/SDL_systhread.c    mié feb 12 18:12:14 2014 -0300
+++ b/src/thread/pthread/SDL_systhread.c    mié feb 12 18:57:52 2014 -0300
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 
 #include "SDL_platform.h"
 #include "SDL_thread.h"
+#include "SDL_hints.h"
 #include "../SDL_thread_c.h"
 #include "../SDL_systhread.h"
 #ifdef __ANDROID__
@@ -84,6 +85,8 @@
 SDL_SYS_CreateThread(SDL_Thread * thread, void *args)
 {
     pthread_attr_t type;
+    size_t ss;
+    const char *hint = SDL_GetHint(SDL_HINT_THREAD_STACK_SIZE);
 
     /* do this here before any threads exist, so there's no race condition. */
     #if defined(__MACOSX__) || defined(__IPHONEOS__) || defined(__LINUX__)
@@ -103,6 +106,13 @@
         return SDL_SetError("Couldn't initialize pthread attributes");
     }
     pthread_attr_setdetachstate(&type, PTHREAD_CREATE_JOINABLE);
+    
+    /* If the SDL_HINT_THREAD_STACK_SIZE exists and it seems to be a positive number, use it */
+    if (hint && hint[0] >= '0' && hint[0] <= '9') {
+        pthread_attr_setstacksize(&type, (size_t)SDL_atoi(hint));
+    }
+    
+    pthread_attr_getstacksize(&type, &ss);
 
     /* Create the thread and go! */
     if (pthread_create(&thread->handle, &type, RunThread, args) != 0) {
diff -r 56e9c709db7e test/torturethread.c
--- a/test/torturethread.c  mié feb 12 18:12:14 2014 -0300
+++ b/test/torturethread.c  mié feb 12 18:57:52 2014 -0300
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@
         SDL_LogError(SDL_LOG_CATEGORY_APPLICATION, "Couldn't initialize SDL: %s\n", SDL_GetError());
         return (1);
     }
+    
+    SDL_SetHintWithPriority(SDL_HINT_THREAD_STACK_SIZE, SDL_getenv(SDL_HINT_THREAD_STACK_SIZE), SDL_HINT_OVERRIDE);
 
     signal(SIGSEGV, SIG_DFL);
     for (i = 0; i < NUMTHREADS; i++) {