x86_64 calling conventions and stack frames

Question

I am trying to make sense out of the executable code that GCC (4.4.3) is generating for an x86_64 machine running under Ubuntu Linux. In particular, I don\'t understand how the

Answer 1

Assuming that I am linking with glibc (which I am doing), it looks as if I can solve this problem for practical purposes with the glibc global symbol __libc_stack_end:

extern void * __libc_stack_end;

void myfunction(void) {
  /* ... */
  off_t stack_hi = (off_t)__libc_stack_end;
  /* ... */
}