diff --git a/sched/task/task_start.c b/sched/task/task_start.c
index 1317d9a4eb..c608b16cfb 100644
--- a/sched/task/task_start.c
+++ b/sched/task/task_start.c
@@ -52,6 +52,11 @@
 /****************************************************************************
  * Pre-processor Definitions
  ****************************************************************************/
+/* This is an artificial limit to detect error conditions where an argv[]
+ * list is not properly terminated.
+ */
+
+#define MAX_START_ARGS 256
 
 /****************************************************************************
  * Private Type Declarations