--- old/src/share/vm/runtime/os.hpp	2013-08-28 14:34:32.100178702 +0200
+++ new/src/share/vm/runtime/os.hpp	2013-08-28 14:34:32.040178704 +0200
@@ -252,6 +252,11 @@
   static size_t page_size_for_region(size_t region_min_size,
                                      size_t region_max_size,
                                      uint min_pages);
+  // return the largest page size that can be used
+  static size_t max_page_size() {
+    // the _page_sizes array is sorted in descending order.
+    return _page_sizes[0];
+  }
 
   // Methods for tracing page sizes returned by the above method; enabled by
   // TracePageSizes.  The region_{min,max}_size parameters should be the values