diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6039eb67..44396f72 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ Features
 
 - Initiate major garbage collections faster after allocating a huge object (larger than 500K). This allows the system to reclaim the memory faster and keep overall memory usage low for certain workloads.
 - Cyclone will no longer memoize pure functions by default.
+- Added build option `CYC_PTHREAD_SET_STACK_SIZE` to allow Cyclone to specify a thread stack size rather than using the OS default.
 
 Bug Fixes
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f4fb4842..2b1ace0d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -197,6 +197,7 @@ mstreams.o : mstreams.c $(HEADERS)
 
 runtime.o : runtime.c $(HEADERS)
 	$(CCOMP) -c \
+					-DCYC_PTHREAD_SET_STACK_SIZE=$(CYC_PTHREAD_SET_STACK_SIZE) \
 					-DCYC_INSTALL_DIR=\"$(PREFIX)\" \
 					-DCYC_INSTALL_LIB=\"$(LIBDIR)\" \
 					-DCYC_INSTALL_BIN=\"$(BINDIR)\" \
diff --git a/Makefile.config b/Makefile.config
index 8a2871ae..d31e4d23 100644
--- a/Makefile.config
+++ b/Makefile.config
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@ CYC_PROFILING ?=
 CYC_GCC_OPT_FLAGS ?= -O2
 #CYC_GCC_OPT_FLAGS ?= -g
 
+# Change this to 1 to use a custom stack size for threads.
+# Required on platforms such as Alpine Linux that use a 
+# very small stack by default.
+CYC_PTHREAD_SET_STACK_SIZE ?= 0
+
 OS = $(shell uname)
 CC ?= cc
 
diff --git a/runtime.c b/runtime.c
index 71fe550f..ce0d9634 100644
--- a/runtime.c
+++ b/runtime.c
@@ -6823,28 +6823,12 @@ void *_Cyc_init_thread(object thread_and_thunk)
  */
 object Cyc_spawn_thread(object thread_and_thunk)
 {
-// TODO: if we want to return mutator number to the caller, we need
-// to reserve a number here. need to figure out how we are going to
-// synchronize access to GC mutator fields, and then reserve one
-// here. will need to pass it, along with thunk, to Cyc_init_thread.
-// Then can use a new function up there to add the mutator, since we
-// already have the number.
-/*
-how to manage gc mutators. need to handle:
-- need to be able to allocate a thread but not run it yet.
-  maybe have a run level, or status
-- need to make mutators thread safe, ideally without major performance impacts
-- thread terminates
-  - should mark mutator as 'done'
-  - at an opportune moment, free mutator and set it back
-    to null
-
-what is the right data structure? is the array OK? or would it be better
-to look at the lock-free structures provided by ck?
-*/
   pthread_t thread;
   pthread_attr_t attr;
   pthread_attr_init(&attr);
+#if CYC_PTHREAD_SET_STACK_SIZE
+  pthread_attr_setstacksize(&attr, 1024*1024*8);
+#endif
   pthread_attr_setdetachstate(&attr, PTHREAD_CREATE_DETACHED);
   if (pthread_create(&thread, &attr, _Cyc_init_thread, thread_and_thunk)) {
     fprintf(stderr, "Error creating a new thread\n");