A method for promoting fault tolerance and recovery in a computing system including at least one processing node (10; 72; 74; 76), said method including: promoting availability and recovery of a first processing node (10; 72; 76), wherein promoting availability and recovery includes, at a first processing node, executing a spawner at said node, wherein said spawner, in the course of execution, generates a first spawn (22A-H), wherein a spawner is a type of process that has the ability to generate one or more other processes, wherein the processes that are generated by a spawner are referred to as spawn, and wherein a spawner is a longer-lived process than at least some of the spawn generated by that spawner, wherein executing said spawner includes assigning, to said spawner, a first generation indicator , wherein said first spawn inherits said first generation indicator; beginning a checkpoint interval , at the end of which nodal recovery information, which is usable for recovery of said node, is committed to durable storage, wherein beginning said checkpoint interval includes suspending said spawner from generating spawn, assigning, to said spawner, a second generation indicator that differs from said first generation indicator, resuming said spawner, thereby enabling said spawner to generate a second spawn, wherein said second spawn inherits said second generation indicator, and controlling an extent to which said second spawn writes to memory (12; 12A; 12B), wherein controlling an extent to which said second spawn writes to memory includes preventing said second spawn from consummating a write to said memory; and after committing said nodal recovery information, releasing control over said extent to which said second spawn can write to memory. promoting availability and recovery of a first processing node (10; 72; 76), wherein promoting availability and recovery includes, at a first processing node, executing a spawner at said node, wherein said spawner, in the course of execution, generates a first spawn (22A-H), wherein a spawner is a type of process that has the ability to generate one or more other processes, wherein the processes that are generated by a spawner are referred to as spawn, and wherein a spawner is a longer-lived process than at least some of the spawn generated by that spawner, wherein executing said spawner includes assigning, to said spawner, a first generation indicator , wherein said first spawn inherits said first generation indicator; wherein a spawner is a type of process that has the ability to generate one or more other processes, wherein the processes that are generated by a spawner are referred to as spawn, and wherein a spawner is a longer-lived process than at least some of the spawn generated by that spawner, wherein executing said spawner includes assigning, to said spawner, a first generation indicator , wherein said first spawn inherits said first generation indicator; beginning a checkpoint interval , at the end of which nodal recovery information, which is usable for recovery of said node, is committed to durable storage, wherein beginning said checkpoint interval includes suspending said spawner from generating spawn, assigning, to said spawner, a second generation indicator that differs from said first generation indicator, resuming said spawner, thereby enabling said spawner to generate a second spawn, wherein said second spawn inherits said second generation indicator, and controlling an extent to which said second spawn writes to memory (12; 12A; 12B), wherein controlling an extent to which said second spawn writes to memory includes preventing said second spawn from consummating a write to said memory; and after committing said nodal recovery information, releasing control over said extent to which said second spawn can write to memory. <EOS>