Default Stack Sizes of HotSpot and JRockit

This section provides a tutorial example on how to compare the default behavior of HotSpot and JRockit JVMs. JRockit JVM support a much larger number of nested calls than HotSpot with default settings.

In previous tutorials, we focused on the latest version of HotSpot. Now let's compare the default behavior of different versions of HotSpot and JRockit with this simple StackOverflowTest.java program:

/* StackOverflowTest.java
 * Copyright (c) 2014, HerongYang.com, All Rights Reserved.
 */
class StackOverflowTest {
   static long n;
   public static void main(String[] a) {
      n = 0;
      try {
         sub();
      } catch (StackOverflowError e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
         System.out.println("Maximum nested calls: "+n);
      }
   }
   private static void sub() {
      n++;
      sub();
   }
}

Compile and run StackOverflowTest.java with different versions of JVMs, you will get something like this:

C:\herong>\progra~1\Java\jdk1.8.0\bin\javac StackOverflowTest.java

C:\>\progra~1\Java\jdk1.8.0\bin\java StackOverflowTest 2> err.txt
Maximum nested calls: 8906


C:\>\progra~1\Java\jdk1.7.0_45\bin\javac StackOverflowTest.java

C:\>\progra~1\Java\jdk1.7.0_45\bin\java StackOverflowTest 2> err.txt
Maximum nested calls: 8010


C:\>\progra~1\Java\jdk1.6.0_45\bin\javac StackOverflowTest.java

C:\>\progra~1\Java\jdk1.6.0_45\bin\java StackOverflowTest 2> err.txt
Maximum nested calls: 9349


C:\>\progra~1\java\jrockit-jdk1.6.0_45-R28.2.7-4.1.0\bin\javac 
   StackOverflowTest.java

C:\>\progra~1\java\jrockit-jdk1.6.0_45-R28.2.7-4.1.0\bin\java
   StackOverflowTest 2> err.txt
Maximum nested calls: 31156

The result shows that JRockit R28 support a much higher number of nested calls than HotSpot 1.8 with default settings. There are 2 possibilities: JRockit has a larger default stack size or JRockit uses smaller frames. We will find it out in the next tutorial.

Last update: 2014.

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Downloading and Installing JDK 1.8.0 on Windows

 Downloading and Installing JDK 1.7.0 on Windows

 java.lang.Runtime Class - The JVM Instance

 java.lang.System Class - The Operating System

 ClassLoader Class - Class Loaders

 Class Class - Class Reflections

 Sun's JVM - Java HotSpot VM

 JRockit JVM 28.2.7 by Oracle Corporation

 JVM Runtime Data Areas

 Memory Management and Garbage Collectors

 Garbage Collection Tests

JVM Stack, Frame and Stack Overflow

 What Is JVM Stack?

 StackOverflowError Exception Test

 -Xss JVM Option for Stack Size

 Frame Impact of Extra Statements

 JVM Stack Expansion and Footprint

 JVM Stack Expansion and OutOfMemoryError

 Largest Stack Size for HotSpot on Windows

Default Stack Sizes of HotSpot and JRockit

 JRockit Frame Size Smaller than HotSpot

 JRockit Expanding Stacks in Bigger Chunks

 JRockit Running Out Of Memory Quicker

 Largest Stack Size for JRockit on Windows

 Thread Testing Program and Result

 CPU Impact of Multi-Thread Applications

 I/O Impact of Multi-Thread Applications

 CDS (Class Data Sharing)

 Micro Benchmark Runner and JVM Options

 Micro Benchmark Tests on "int" Operations

 Micro Benchmark Tests on "long" Operations

 Micro Benchmark Tests in JIT Compilation Mode

 Micro Benchmark Tests on "float" and "double" Operations

 Outdated Tutorials

 References

 PDF Printing Version