A method for processing commands in a directory-based computer memory management system includes receiving a command to perform an operation on data stored in a set of one or more computer memory locations associated with an entry in a directory of a computer memory, the entry is associated with an indicator for indicating whether the set of one or more computer memory locations is busy, a head tag, and a tail tag. The command is associated with a command tag and a predecessor tag, and checking the indicator to determine whether the set of one or more computer memory locations is busy.