In this paper, we study a compositional approach to designing a class of stabilizing distributed systems. We show that the linear pipelined composition of a number of stabilizing modules is inherently stabilizing, and is a useful method of constructing scalable stabilizing solutions for streaming applications that are on the rise in peer-to-peer and sensor networks. We present the correctness proof and complexity analysis of the composition for a linear pipeline. Subsequently, we generalize the pipelined composition to alternative, concurrent, and repetitive versions, investigate the stabilization properties of these versions, and present a set of conditions under which these extended constructions retain their stabilization properties.

The token ring is a seminal topic in self-stabilization research. It has been expanded to include multiple tokens, and improved upon using randomization to lower the state space requirements. In this brief announcement, we discuss how the two ideas can be brought together for an optimal solution to the multi-token ring problem.

Stabilizing distributed systems expect all the component processes to run predefined programs that are externally mandated. In Internet scale systems, this is unrealistic, since each process may have selfish interests and motives related to maximizing its own payoff. This article formulates the problem of selfish stabilization to show how competition blends with cooperation in a stabilizing environment.