A distributed garbage collector for active objects

This paper introduces an algorithm that performs garbage collection in distributed systems of active objects (i.e., objects having their own threads of control). The proposed garbage collector is made of a set of local garbage collectors, one per node, loosely coupled to a global garbage collector. The novelties of the proposed garbage collector come from the fact that local garbage collectors need not be synchronized with each other for detecting garbage objects and that faulty communication channels are tolerated. The paper describes the proposed garbage collector, together with its implementation and performance for a concurrent object-oriented language running on a local area network of workstations