Self- governing control is a defining characteristic of autonomous computing machinery. Autonomy implies some degree of independence, and when a system's ability to achieve its mission is independent of how it is initialized, the system is self-stabilizing. Application of self-stabilization to system and network components is motivated by core concerns of fault-tolerance in distributed systems. Self-stabilization is a solution to problems of transient memory faults and systems with dynamic reconfigurations. Research in self-stabilization explores many of the classic themes of distributed computing (distributed graph algorithms, mutual exclusion, distributed agreement). Recent papers combine self-stabilization with traditional forms of fault-tolerance, consider methodological issues for the design of self-stabilizing systems, investigate randomized techniques, and apply stabilization to new networking models. The workshop brings together concerns from theory and practice of self-stabilization.

Shlomi Dolev presents the fundamentals of self-stabilization and demonstrates the process of designing self-stabilizing distributed systems.

Physicalsystemswhichrightthemselvesafterbeingdisturbedevokeourcuriosity becausewe wantto understand howsuchsystemsareableto reactto unexpected stimuli. Themechanismsareallthe morefascinatingwhensystemsarecomposed of small, simple units, and the ability of the system to self-stabilize emerges out of its components. Faithful computer simulations of such physical systems exhibit the self-stabilizing property, but in the realm of computing, particularly for distributed systems, wehavegreaterambition. We imaginethat all manner of software, ranging from basic communication protocols to high-level applications, could enjoy self-corrective properties. Self-stabilizing software o?ers a unique, non-traditional approach to the c- cial problem of transient fault tolerance. Many successful instances of modern fault-tolerant networks are based on principles of self-stabilization. Surprisingly, the most widely accepted technical de?nition of a self-stabilizing system does not refer to faults: it is the property that the system can be started in any i- tial state, possibly an “illegal state,” and yet the system guarantees to behave properly in ?nite time. This, and similar de?nitions, break many traditional approaches to program design, in which the programmer by habit makes - sumptions about initial conditions. The composition of self-stabilizing systems, initially seen as a daunting challenge, has been transformed into a mana- able task, thanks to an accumulation of discoveries by many investigators. - search on various topics in self-stabilization continues to supply new methods for constructing self-stabilizing systems, determines limits and applicability of the paradigm of self-stabilization, and connects self-stabilization to related areas of fault tolerance and distributed computing.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Self-Stabilizing Systems, SSS 2005, held in Barcelona, Spain, in October 2005. The 15 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 33 submissions. The papers address classical topics of self-stabilization, prevailing extensions to the field, such as snap-stabilization, code stabilization, self-stabilization with either dynamic, faulty or Byzantine components, or deal with applications of self-stabilization, either related to operating systems, security, or mobile and ad hoc networks.

The refereed proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Self-Stabilizing Systems, SSS 2003, held in San Francisco, CA, USA, in June 2003. The 15 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 27 submissions. The papers address self-stabilization issues for various types of systems and software including communication protocols, sensor networks, biological systems, and directed networks; several new algorithms are presented.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Self-Stabilizing Systems, SSS 2005, held in Barcelona, Spain, in October 2005. The 15 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 33 submissions. The papers address classical topics of self-stabilization, prevailing extensions to the field, such as snap-stabilization, code stabilization, self-stabilization with either dynamic, faulty or Byzantine components, or deal with applications of self-stabilization, either related to operating systems, security, or mobile and ad hoc networks.