Join decompositions for efficient synchronization of CRDTs after a network partition: [Work in progress report]

Abstract

State-based CRDTs allow updates on local replicas without remote synchronization. Once these updates are propagated, possible conflicts are resolved deterministically across all replicas. δ-CRDTs bring significant advantages in terms of the size of messages exchanged between replicas during normal operation. However, when a replica joins the system after a network partition, it needs to receive the updates it missed and propagate the ones performed locally. Current systems solve this by exchanging the full state bidirectionally or by storing additional metadata along the CRDT. We introduce the concept of join-decomposition for state-based CRDTs, a technique orthogonal and complementary to delta-mutation, and propose two synchronization methods that reduce the amount of information exchanged, with no need to modify current CRDT definitions.