Methods, devices and systems for writer pre-selection in distributed data systems

A computer-implemented method may comprise receiving proposals to mutate a data stored in a distributed and replicated file system coupled to a network, the distributed and replicated data system comprising a plurality of nodes, each comprising a server. A metadata service maintains and updates a replica of a namespace of the distributed and replicated file system and coordinates updates to the data by generating an ordered set of agreements corresponding to the received proposals, the ordered set of agreements specifying an order in which the nodes are to mutate data stored in data nodes and cause corresponding changes to the state of the namespace. For each agreement in the generated ordered set of agreements, a corresponding writers list may be provided that comprises an ordered list of nodes to execute the agreement and make corresponding changes to the namespace. The ordered set of agreements may then be sent to the plurality of nodes along with, for each agreement in the ordered set of agreements, the corresponding writers list or a pre-generated index thereto and each of the plurality of nodes may be configured to only execute agreements for which it is a first-listed node on the received writers list.