On Fairness Notions in Distributed Systems: I. A Characterization of Implementability

On Fairness Notions in Distributed Systems, Part I: A Characterization of Implementability

On Fairness Notions in Distributed Systems: II. Equivalence-Completions and Their Hierarchies

This is the second part of a two-part paper in which we discuss the implementability of fairness notions in distributed systems where asynchronous processes interact via multiparty interactions. We focus here on equivalence-robust fairness notions where equivalence computations are either all fair or all unfair. Francez et al. (1992, Formal Aspects Comput. 4, 582–591) propose a notion of comple...

Characterizing Fairness Implementability

We present a semantic criterion for fairness notions for multiparty interaction. We show that if a fairness notion violates the criterion, then no deterministic algorithm for multiparty interaction scheduling can satisfy the fairness requirement. Conversely, the implementation is possible if the criterion is obeyed. Thus, the criterion is suucient and necessary to guarantee fairness implementab...

Best Fairness Hierarchy in Elementary Nets

The fairness hierarchy and conspiracies, the notions introduced by Best, are studied in the context of elementary nets. Proving that sequential as well as persistent systems are conspiracy-free, we indicate two main roots of conspiracies: distributed memory and conflicts. Using the notion of markingfairness, due to Merceron, we prove that T0-fairness + M0-fairness = T∞fairness. This result give...

On Describing the Behavior and Implementation of Distributed Systems

A simple, basic and general model for describing both the (input-output) behavior and the implementation of distributed systems is presented. An important feature of the model is the separation of the machinery used to describe the implementation and the behavior. This feature makes the model potentially useful for design specification of systems and of subsystems. The implementation model reli...