diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index bb3716a0..996a5dc6 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -118,7 +118,10 @@ endif (CMAKE_USE_PTHREADS_INIT)
 #FIXME: Should be only for qbsp
 add_definitions(-DDOUBLEVEC_T)
 
+set(STACKSIZE 8388608)
+add_definitions(-DQ_STACKSIZE=${STACKSIZE})
+
 #request 8MB stack
 if (WIN32)
-	set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS -Wl,--stack,8388608)
+	set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS -Wl,--stack,${STACKSIZE})
 endif (WIN32)
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8d027616..9590601a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -116,6 +116,14 @@ CFLAGS += $(call cc-option,-ffast-math,)
 endif
 endif
 
+# give a generous 8MB stack
+STACKSIZE := 8388608
+CFLAGS += -DQ_STACKSIZE=$(STACKSIZE)
+
+ifeq ($(TARGET_OS),WIN32)
+LDFLAGS += -Wl,--stack,$(STACKSIZE)
+endif
+
 # ============================================================================
 # Helper functions
 # ============================================================================
diff --git a/common/threads.c b/common/threads.c
index 3286ebb2..00420d9c 100644
--- a/common/threads.c
+++ b/common/threads.c
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ RunThreadsOn(int start, int workcnt, void *(func)(void *), void *arg)
     status = pthread_attr_init(&attrib);
     if (status)
 	Error("pthread_attr_init failed");
-    status = pthread_attr_setstacksize(&attrib, 0x100000);
+    status = pthread_attr_setstacksize(&attrib, Q_STACKSIZE);
     if (status)
 	Error("pthread_attr_setstacksize failed");