1. In a data processing system, a method comprising: assigning, to a hardware thread associated with one or more instruction streams, a primary level of hardware priority and one or more secondary levels of hardware priority, wherein the hardware thread is a set of hardware resources allocated to an application, and wherein the primary level of hardware priority and the one or more secondary levels of hardware priority are recorded within a plurality of thread priority files, wherein the hardware thread is one of a plurality of hardware threads in a simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) processor; detecting an initiation of the hardware thread; in response to detecting initiation of the hardware thread: retrieving the plurality of thread priority files; and determining whether a system call is initiated; and controlling operation of the hardware thread based on the primary level of hardware priority and the one or more secondary levels of hardware priority established by the plurality of thread priority files.