8. Changelog¶
8.1 2025 May release (25.05)¶
The Architecture document is refactored completely. Below are the ToCs from previous version and the newly refactored Architecture document to give a clarity on what has been removed or added/updated.
| Previous version ToC | Current New ToC |
|---|---|
| 1. About | About |
| 1.1 Editorial Information | 1. Editorial Information |
| 1.1.1 Publisher | 1.1 Publisher |
| 1.1.2 Authors | 1.2 Authors |
| 1.1.3 Contact | 1.3 Contact |
| 1.1.4 Other Format | 1.4 Other Format |
| 1.1.5 Copyright Notice | 1.5 Copyright Notice |
| 2. Context | 2. Introduction |
| 2.1 Gaia-X as a member of the Data Spaces Business Alliance (DSBA) | 3. Gaia-X Context |
| 2.2 Gaia-X Trust Framework | 3.1 Understanding Ecosystems and Data Spaces |
| Models & Components | 3.1.1 Federation of Ecosystems |
| 3. Gaia-X Conceptual Model | 3.2 Gaia-X high-level Positioning |
| 3.1 Main Concepts | 3.2.1 Trust Plane |
| 3.1.1 Gaia-X ecosystems | 3.2.2 Management Plane |
| 3.1.2 Decentralized trust framework for ecosystems | 3.2.3 Usage Plane |
| 3.1.3 The Gaia-X model building block | 3.2.4 Complementarity of Technical Compatibility and Compliance |
| 3.2 Roles | 3.3 Gaia-X Alignment |
| 3.2.1 Trust Anchor | 3.3.1 Aligning with Other Associations and Foundations |
| 3.2.2 Participant | 3.3.2 Aligning with Other Initiatives |
| 3.2.3 Basic Interactions of Participants | 3.3.3 Aligning with External Projects |
| 3.3 Components | 3.3.4 Aligning with Standards and Regulations |
| 3.3.1 Gaia-X Credentails | 4. Gaia-X Trust Framework Architecture |
| 3.3.2 Policies | 4.1 Elements of a Trust Framework |
| 3.3.3 External | 4.2 Using the Trust Framework |
| 3.4 Overview Picture | 4.2.1 Performing Automated Onboarding and Offboarding |
| 4. Component Details | 4.2.2 Performing Credential Verification |
| 4.1 Resources & Service Offerings | 4.2.3 Identifying Ecosystem Trust services |
| 4.2 Policies | 4.3 GXDCH |
| 4.2.1 Policy definition | 4.4 Gaia-X Conceptual Model |
| 4.2.2 Policy description | 4.4.1 Terminology Sources |
| 4.3 Service Composition | 4.4.2 Definitions |
| 4.3.1 Assumptions | 4.4.3 Model Core |
| 4.3.2 Generic Service Cpmposition Model | 4.4.4 Model for Federated Ecosystems |
| 4.3.3 Conceptual Service Composition Model | 4.5 Cross-Ecosystem Interoperability |
| 4.4 Identity and Access Management | 4.6 Inter-Ecosystem Interoperability |
| 4.4.1 Dataspace / Federation onboarding and offboarding | 4.7 Services and Service Composition |
| 4.5 Data Products and Data Exchange Services | 4.7.1 Resources and Sevice Offerings |
| 4.5.1 Data Product Conceptual Model | 4.8 Policies |
| 4.5.2 Cascading agreement and right to oblivion | 4.8.1 Policy Definition 6.2.1 Using Identities in Gaia-X Credentials |
| 4.5.3 Data Intermediaries | 4.8.2 Policy Description |
| 4.6 Gaia-X Trust Anchors | 4.8.3 Gaia-X Policy Reasoning Engine |
| 4.6.1 Gaia-X Trust Data Sources and Gaia-X Notaries | 4.8.4 Policy Decision Point (PDP) |
| Operating & Services | 4.8.5 Rights Delegation |
| 5. Operating Model | 4.9 Ecosystem Trust Functions |
| 5.1 Context | 4.9.1 Trust Indexes |
| 5.1.1 Prerequisites | 4.10 Data Space Architecture using Gaia-X Trust Framework |
| 5.1.2 Scheme Model | 5. Gaia-X Implementation of Trusted Data Transactions |
| 5.1.3 Extension by the ecosystems | 5.1 Data Product Conceptual Model |
| 5.1.4 Gaia-X Compliance Scheme and Process | 5.2 Understanding Data Usage Agreement (DUA) |
| 5.2 Gaia-X Decentralized Autonomous Ecosystem | 6. Gaia-X Technical Compatibility Specifications |
| 5.3 Data Usage operating model | 6.1 Defining Technical Compatibility |
| 5.3.1 Data Intermediary generic operating model | 6.2 Understanding Identity and Identifier |
| 5.4 Service Composition | 6.3 Using Linked Data |
| 6. Gaia-X Trust Framework Components | 6.4 Using Verifiable Credentials |
| 6.1 Gaia-X Registry | 6.5 Verifying Gaia-X Credentials |
| 6.1.1 DNS TXT Records and Naming Convention | 6.6 Gaia-X Credential Format |
| 6.1.2 Adopting the Gaia-X Model in Other ecosystems | 6.7 OpenID Connect for Verifiable Credentials |
| 6.1.3 Basic Protocol and Interface Specification for GXDCH Registry | 6.7.1 OpenID Connect for Verifiable Credentials Issuance |
| 6.2 Gaia-X Compliance | 6.7.2 OpenID COnnect for Verifiable Presentations |
| 6.2.1 Basic Protocol and Interface Specification for GXDCH Compliance | 6.7.3 Usage |
| 6.3 Gaia-X Notary - LRN | 6.7.4 Cloud/Enterprise Wallet |
| 6.3.1 Basic Protocol and Interface Specification for GXDCH Notary | 6.8 Understanding Ontologies |
| 6.4 Gaia-X Credential Event Service (CES) | 6.8.1 Versioning |
| 6.4.1 Basic Protocol and Interface Specification for GXDCH CES | 6.8.2 DCAT |
| 6.5 Graphical overview of the Trust Framework components | 6.8.3 ODRL |
| 7. Enabling and Federation Services | 6.8.4 CAP |
| 7.1 Wizard Service | 6.8.5 Gaia-X Schema |
| 7.2 Credential Manager | 6.9 Managing Trust Services |
| 7.3 Federated Catalogues | 6.9.1 Trusted Service Operators |
| 7.3.1 Catalogue Service | 6.9.2 Using Compliance Engine |
| 7.3.2 Retention | 6.9.3 Using the Registry |
| 7.3.3 Snapshot | 6.9.4 Using the legal Registration Number (LRN) Notary |
| 7.3.4 Trust Indexes | Appendices |
| 7.4 Notarization Services | 7. Trust Indexes |
| 7.5 Data Exchange Services | 7.1 Sub-Indexes |
| 7.5.1 Auditing | 7.1.1 Veracity |
| 8. Other Concepts | 7.1.2 Transparency |
| 8.1 Gaia-X and Data Meshes | 7.1.3 Composability |
| 8.1.1 Data Mesh Definition | 7.1.4 Semantic Match |
| 8.1.2 Gaia-X as (Higher Order) Service Mesh | 8. Changelog |
| 8.2 Computational Contracts | |
| 8.2.1 Concept: Computable Contracts as service | |
| 8.3 Trusted Execution of Services | |
| Annexes | |
| 9. Changelog | |
| 10. Glossary & References | |
| 11. Annex | |
| 12. Trust Indexes |
8.2 2024 April release (24.04)¶
- Provide a clear positioning of Gaia-X Trust Framework in the context of other (especially DSBA) data space initiatives
- New view on how the Trust Framework can be used to create domain and ecosystem specific extensions
- Generic Trust Framework process flow and roles for CABS fully supporting the Label definitions in the PRCD
- Introducing Signature and Party credentials (which are defined in the ICAM document)
- Add Protocol, Standards and API into the Gaia-X Services chapter
- Link to the new Technical Specification “Software Architecture”
- Move Credential Event Service to the Gaia-X Services chapter and provide functional specification details
- Clarifications and more precise wording in the Data Exchanges Services chapter based on reader feedback
- Detailed description on the use of policy engines and the link between ODRL and VC
- Added Annex for updated Trust Indexes
- Clarification on Data Usage Agreements as generalisation of Consent (GDPR) and Permission (Data Act)
8.3 2023 October release (23.10)¶
- Replace “Overview”, which included general concepts, with “Context”, which defines the specific scope of the Gaia-X Architecture
- Update and generalization of the “Conceptual Model”
- Generic description of “Policy Management”
- Mapping of Gaia-X Architecture to the CASCO model
- Updates based on changes in the Data Exchange Services and Identity, Credential and Access Management Document
- Introduction of the “Party-Credential” as extension of Identity and Service Offering credentials with Membership and Service credentials
- Contains the technical implementation details for the Trust Framework (from the 22.10 Trust Framework document)
- Annex includes a section on “Gaia-X Digital Clearing House”
- Chapter “Gaia-X Trust Framework components” including “Gaia-X Compliance”, “Gaia-X Registry”, and “Gaia-X Notary - LRN”
- Inclusion of the “Publication/Subscription service” (ref. Federated Catalogues) and “Trust Indexes” sections in the new chapter “Enabling and Federation Services”
8.4 2022 October release (22.10)¶
- Update the chapter on Service Composition
- Add a section on Data Mesh
8.5 2022 September release (22.09)¶
- Move Self-Description technical specs to the next Identity, Credential and Access Management document
- Update Self-Description lifecycle status
- Introduction of Interconnection Point Identifiers
- Introduction of new language terms for Data Exchange
- Update of the Gaia-X schemas and diagrams aligned with the Gaia-X Framework
8.6 2022 April release (22.04)¶
- Link to Trust Framework document (where the Self-Description mandatory attributes now are)
- Aligning Gaia-X architecture with NIST Cloud Federation Reference Architecture (CFRA)
- Updated definition of Data Exchange Services
- Updated Service Composition and Resource model
- Updated Self-Description Lifecycle
- Consistency and alignment with other officially published Gaia-X documents, streamlining and de-duplication of text to ease reading
8.7 2021 December release (21.12)¶
- Adding
ContractandComputable Contractdefinitions in the Conceptual Model - Update on the Self-Description lifecycle management
- Update on the Federated Trust Model
8.8 2021 September release (21.09)¶
- Rewrite the Operating model chapter introducing Trust Anchors, Gaia-X Compliance, Gaia-X Labels and Gaia-X Registry.
- Update of Self-Description mandatory attributes in the Appendix.
- Update of
Interconnection,ResourceandResource templatedefinitions. - Gitlab automation improvement and speed-up
- Source available in the 21.09 branch.
8.9 2021 June release (21.06)¶
- Adding a new Operating model section introducing the first principle for Gaia-X governance.
- Adding preview of Self-Description mandatory attributes in the Appendix.
- Improvement of the Policy rules.
- Improvement of the
AssetandResourcedefinitions. - Complete release automation from Gitlab.
- Source available under the 21.06 tag.
8.10 2021 March release (21.03)¶
- First release of the Architecture document by the Gaia-X Association AISBL
- Complete rework of the Gaia-X Conceptual Model with new entities’ definition.
- Adding a Glossary section.
- Source available under the 21.03-markdown tag.
8.11 2020 June release (20.06)¶
- First release of the Technical Architecture document by the BMWi