A Distributed Algorithm for Mutual Exclusion in an Arbitrary Network

A distributed algorithm for mutual exclusion is presented. No particular assumptions on the network topology are required, except connectivity; the communication graph may be arbitrary. The processes communicate by using messages only and there is no global controller. Furthermore, no process needs to know or learn the global network topology. In that sense, the algorithm is more general than the mutual exclusion algorithms which make use of an a priori knowledge of the network topology (for example either ring or complete network). A proof of the correctness of the algorithm is provided. The algorithm's complexity is examined by evaluating the number of messages required for the mutual exclusion protocol.