Master and subordinate operating system kernels for heterogeneous multiprocessor systems

A computing system, comprising:

• multiple heterogeneous processors;
• an operating system executable by a first subset of the multiple heterogeneous processors;
• a multiple-processor manager configured to establish communication between the multiple heterogeneous processors for managing computing resources among the multiple heterogeneous processors, wherein the operating system is configured to allocate processes of a software application among different ones of the multiple heterogeneous processors;
• a subordinate kernel agent of the operating system, executable by a second subset of the multiple heterogeneous processors, and configured to initiate a process of the software application on the second subset of the multiple heterogeneous processors upon reception of an instruction from the operating system;
• and
• an application binary interface shim (ABI) including an application binary executable by the second subset of the multiple heterogeneous processors, the ABI shim configured to determine a locality of a particular resource's management, the ABI shim further configured to direct a call to one of a kernel of the operating system and the subordinate kernel agent based on the determined locality.

A computer-executable method, comprising:

• enabling communication between an operating system and a plurality of heterogeneous processors, the plurality of heterogeneous processors configured to perform operating system services for processes of a software application;
• assigning the processes of the software application among the plurality of heterogeneous processors;
• and
• loading an application binary interface (ABI) shim on a subset of the plurality of heterogeneous processors, the ABI shim configured to determine a locality of a resource's managing entity, and to direct, based on the determined locality, a call relating to the resource to one of a subordinate kernel agent executing on the subset of the plurality of heterogeneous processors and an operating system kernel executing on another subset of the plurality of heterogeneous processors.