diff --git a/2.7/alpine3.4/Dockerfile b/2.7/alpine3.4/Dockerfile
index 0845301ea..e1030222b 100644
--- a/2.7/alpine3.4/Dockerfile
+++ b/2.7/alpine3.4/Dockerfile
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ RUN set -ex \
 		--enable-shared \
 		--enable-unicode=ucs4 \
 	&& make -j "$(nproc)" \
+# set thread stack size to 1MB so we don't segfault before we hit sys.getrecursionlimit()
+# https://github.com/alpinelinux/aports/commit/2026e1259422d4e0cf92391ca2d3844356c649d0
+		EXTRA_CFLAGS="-DTHREAD_STACK_SIZE=0x100000" \
 	&& make install \
 	\
 	&& runDeps="$( \
diff --git a/2.7/alpine3.6/Dockerfile b/2.7/alpine3.6/Dockerfile
index 8ab8cacc0..df7750273 100644
--- a/2.7/alpine3.6/Dockerfile
+++ b/2.7/alpine3.6/Dockerfile
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ RUN set -ex \
 		--enable-shared \
 		--enable-unicode=ucs4 \
 	&& make -j "$(nproc)" \
+# set thread stack size to 1MB so we don't segfault before we hit sys.getrecursionlimit()
+# https://github.com/alpinelinux/aports/commit/2026e1259422d4e0cf92391ca2d3844356c649d0
+		EXTRA_CFLAGS="-DTHREAD_STACK_SIZE=0x100000" \
 	&& make install \
 	\
 	&& runDeps="$( \
diff --git a/3.4/alpine3.4/Dockerfile b/3.4/alpine3.4/Dockerfile
index 886c44534..f1c88b1db 100644
--- a/3.4/alpine3.4/Dockerfile
+++ b/3.4/alpine3.4/Dockerfile
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ RUN set -ex \
 		--with-system-ffi \
 		--without-ensurepip \
 	&& make -j "$(nproc)" \
+# set thread stack size to 1MB so we don't segfault before we hit sys.getrecursionlimit()
+# https://github.com/alpinelinux/aports/commit/2026e1259422d4e0cf92391ca2d3844356c649d0
+		EXTRA_CFLAGS="-DTHREAD_STACK_SIZE=0x100000" \
 	&& make install \
 	\
 	&& runDeps="$( \
diff --git a/3.5/alpine3.4/Dockerfile b/3.5/alpine3.4/Dockerfile
index 2235ad5e4..c8f421366 100644
--- a/3.5/alpine3.4/Dockerfile
+++ b/3.5/alpine3.4/Dockerfile
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ RUN set -ex \
 		--with-system-ffi \
 		--without-ensurepip \
 	&& make -j "$(nproc)" \
+# set thread stack size to 1MB so we don't segfault before we hit sys.getrecursionlimit()
+# https://github.com/alpinelinux/aports/commit/2026e1259422d4e0cf92391ca2d3844356c649d0
+		EXTRA_CFLAGS="-DTHREAD_STACK_SIZE=0x100000" \
 	&& make install \
 	\
 	&& runDeps="$( \
diff --git a/3.6/alpine3.4/Dockerfile b/3.6/alpine3.4/Dockerfile
index 466a834c8..1367fe8a7 100644
--- a/3.6/alpine3.4/Dockerfile
+++ b/3.6/alpine3.4/Dockerfile
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ RUN set -ex \
 		--with-system-ffi \
 		--without-ensurepip \
 	&& make -j "$(nproc)" \
+# set thread stack size to 1MB so we don't segfault before we hit sys.getrecursionlimit()
+# https://github.com/alpinelinux/aports/commit/2026e1259422d4e0cf92391ca2d3844356c649d0
+		EXTRA_CFLAGS="-DTHREAD_STACK_SIZE=0x100000" \
 	&& make install \
 	\
 	&& runDeps="$( \
diff --git a/3.6/alpine3.6/Dockerfile b/3.6/alpine3.6/Dockerfile
index dfbfeec46..9649b2234 100644
--- a/3.6/alpine3.6/Dockerfile
+++ b/3.6/alpine3.6/Dockerfile
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ RUN set -ex \
 		--with-system-ffi \
 		--without-ensurepip \
 	&& make -j "$(nproc)" \
+# set thread stack size to 1MB so we don't segfault before we hit sys.getrecursionlimit()
+# https://github.com/alpinelinux/aports/commit/2026e1259422d4e0cf92391ca2d3844356c649d0
+		EXTRA_CFLAGS="-DTHREAD_STACK_SIZE=0x100000" \
 	&& make install \
 	\
 	&& runDeps="$( \
diff --git a/3.7-rc/alpine3.6/Dockerfile b/3.7-rc/alpine3.6/Dockerfile
index ff4b9302b..f58013153 100644
--- a/3.7-rc/alpine3.6/Dockerfile
+++ b/3.7-rc/alpine3.6/Dockerfile
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ RUN set -ex \
 		--with-system-ffi \
 		--without-ensurepip \
 	&& make -j "$(nproc)" \
+# set thread stack size to 1MB so we don't segfault before we hit sys.getrecursionlimit()
+# https://github.com/alpinelinux/aports/commit/2026e1259422d4e0cf92391ca2d3844356c649d0
+		EXTRA_CFLAGS="-DTHREAD_STACK_SIZE=0x100000" \
 	&& make install \
 	\
 	&& runDeps="$( \
diff --git a/Dockerfile-alpine.template b/Dockerfile-alpine.template
index ba32dd119..1d9dc3247 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-alpine.template
+++ b/Dockerfile-alpine.template
@@ -66,6 +66,9 @@ RUN set -ex \
 		--with-system-ffi \
 		--without-ensurepip \
 	&& make -j "$(nproc)" \
+# set thread stack size to 1MB so we don't segfault before we hit sys.getrecursionlimit()
+# https://github.com/alpinelinux/aports/commit/2026e1259422d4e0cf92391ca2d3844356c649d0
+		EXTRA_CFLAGS="-DTHREAD_STACK_SIZE=0x100000" \
 	&& make install \
 	\
 	&& runDeps="$( \