diff -Nru vdr-1.6.0-vanilla/thread.c vdr-1.6.0-thread-name/thread.c
--- vdr-1.6.0-vanilla/thread.c	2008-03-27 21:43:25.000000000 +0200
+++ vdr-1.6.0-thread-name/thread.c	2008-04-10 23:47:57.000000000 +0300
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #include <sys/syscall.h>
 #include <sys/time.h>
 #include <sys/wait.h>
+#include <sys/prctl.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include "tools.h"
 
@@ -239,8 +240,13 @@
 void *cThread::StartThread(cThread *Thread)
 {
   Thread->childThreadId = ThreadId();
-  if (Thread->description)
+  if (Thread->description) {
      dsyslog("%s thread started (pid=%d, tid=%d)", Thread->description, getpid(), Thread->childThreadId);
+#ifdef PR_SET_NAME
+     if (prctl(PR_SET_NAME, Thread->description, 0, 0, 0) < 0)
+        esyslog("%s thread naming failed (pid=%d, tid=%d)", Thread->description, getpid(), Thread->childThreadId);
+#endif
+     }
   Thread->Action();
   if (Thread->description)
      dsyslog("%s thread ended (pid=%d, tid=%d)", Thread->description, getpid(), Thread->childThreadId);