Distributed termination detection for dynamic systems

A symmetric algorithm for detecting the termination of a distributed computation is presented. The algorithm does not require global information concerning the system and does not assume any communication features, barring finite delays in the delivery of messages. It permits dynamic creation and destruction of processes participating in the computation, and also permits destruction of a process by external processes, such as the OS kernel. It also provides for external processes spontaneously joining an ongoing computation. Proofs of safety and liveness are provided.