Data Provenance in Distributed Propagator Networks

Abstract

Abstract. The heterogeneous and unreliable nature of distributed systems has created a distinct need for the inclusion of provenance within their design to allow for error correction and redundancy. Many traditional distributed systems have limited provenance tracing abilities, usually included in generic workflow generation or in an application-specific way. The novel programming paradigm of distributed propagator networks allows for the inclusion of provenance from the ground up. In this paper, I present the concept of propagator networks and demonstrate how provenance may be easily integrated into programs built using them. I also demonstrate the possibility of converting non-provenanceaware applications built using propagator networks into provenanceaware applications by simply performing a transformation of the existing program structure.