The Async Multiprocessing Has Sound Foundations in Linux, But Further Testing Is Needed

Linux already has the core pieces for asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP), but maintainers need more reviewers, contributors, and repeatable hardware tests to keep them healthy.

Wolfram Sang’s survey follows his effort to upstream a hardware-spinlock driver. It explains how Linux combines remoteproc, RPMsg, mailboxes, shared memory, and SCMI to coordinate application CPUs with real-time cores—and why firmware-specific mailbox arrangements complicate the textbook diagrams. One practical bottleneck is that testing a driver can require modified firmware and U-Boot; OpenAMP’s examples also do not yet run uniformly across supported boards.

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