A belated proof of self-stabilization (Q1083187)

A self-stabilizing system is one that, independently of its initial state, will exhibit its desired behaviour after a finite number of steps. As such, self-stabilization can be viewed as the ultimate form of error recovery. In 1973, the problem was posed and solved by the author for the case of a distributed solution to the mutual exclusion problem; his solutions were published without a proof of their correctness. For the correctness of his nicest solution, the author has now supplied an elegant argument. The paper is of commendable brevity.