Patent ID: 8108878

Claim:
A computer implemented method for detecting indeterminate dependencies in a distributed computing grid, comprising: using the distributed computing grid which comprises at least one processor to perform a process, the process comprising: determining whether a deadlock situation exists within a workflow of the distributed computing grid by using a processing module, wherein the processing module manages execution of the workflow in the distributed computing grid and maintains statistics on one or more runs of the execution of the workflow in the distributed computing grid, and the processing module determines whether a dependency loop or a dependency chain exists within the workflow by at least determining whether a job in the workflow follows a task in the workflow, wherein the dependency loop begins and terminates at a child element within the workflow, and the job comprises one or more jobs or one or more tasks; retrying execution of a smaller subset of the job at a first level in the execution of the job before propagating a retry to a parent level above the first level in the execution of the job based at least in part upon a result of retrying the execution of the smaller subset of the job; and notifying a user of the deadlock situation if the deadlock exists.