split seed into core/desktop

[Tim Lunn]

We get requests quite often for users to just be able to install the core GNOME desktop, without all the added extras that the main ubuntu GNOME seed adds (libroffice, apps etc).

A couple of the other flavours have gone down this path also, and I think Xubuntu even spin a core version of their ISO. I don't think at this stage we will go down that path, however it should be possible to use netinstall/tasksel to install a 'core' system.

That would leave us with two seeds

-core: containing everything required to get a working gnome-shell system
-desktop: containing all the extras like firefox, email, libreoffice, and all other non-essential apps.

I've also considered adding a third seed, that would pull in everything required for packaging and development on GNOME. Again this would just be a task/meta package and unlikely to do actual ISO spins from it.
-devel: containing ubuntu-dev-tools, sbuild, git-buildpackage and other developer dependencies

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

Tim, sorry I didn't get to this a year ago when you asked. (I didn't forget; I've just been working on other stuff.)

Since there won't be any more new Ubuntu GNOME releases, we can't do anything about this feature now.

https://ubuntugnome.org/ubuntu-gnome-17-04-released/