GAEB4Linux – An Open Source GAEB XML Viewer Built with Spring Boot and Vaadin
1•bitbrick•2h ago
Hi HN,
I’m building GAEB4Linux, an open-source GAEB XML viewer for Linux.
GAEB (Gemeinsamer Ausschuss Elektronik im Bauwesen) is a German standard used in construction for exchanging bills of quantities (BoQ), pricing, tenders, invoices, etc. Most existing tools are Windows-only and closed source.
What it currently does
Loads GAEB XML files (DA80 / DA81, e.g. X81)
Parses via JAXB (generated from official XSD 3.3)
Extracts BoQ structure and positions
Displays:
Position number (OZ)
Short / long text
Quantity
Unit
Unit price
Total
Clean multi-module architecture (Java 21, Spring Boot, Vaadin)
Architecture
The project is structured as:
gaebviewer – Spring Boot app (UI + application logic)
gaeb-schema-da80 – JAXB classes from DA80 XSD
gaeb-schema-da81 – JAXB classes from DA81 XSD
We’re moving toward a two-layer model:
A complete, lossless GAEB tree model (all XML tags preserved)
A domain projection model (BoQ, positions, prices) used by modules like viewer, calculation, export
The idea is to make this a foundation for:
Viewer
Calculation module
Cost breakdown analysis
Potential export back to GAEB
Later: project management + database
Why?
There’s no solid open-source GAEB tool for Linux.
Construction IT is still heavily Windows-bound and proprietary.
I’m interested in feedback on:
Architecture decisions (Tree model vs. direct JAXB mapping)
Handling large GAEB files efficiently
Multi-format support strategy (DA80/81/83)
Long-term maintainability
Repo: https://gaeb4linux.de
Happy to answer technical questions.