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I'm confused as to which Gnome environment is going to be in 18.04.

As far as I can tell, there is ubuntu-gnome-desktop and gnome-shell. Interesting enough, ubuntu-gnome-desktop also installs gnome-shell. And, if not to confuse things more, in the past we've had Gnome Flashback (gnome-session-flashback), and Gnome Classic (gnome-session-fallback).

I've installed ubuntu-gnome-desktop on Ubuntu 17.04, and if I hit the Super key, it switches to gnome-shell. Also, at the login prompt, I can select to go directly to either one.

Can somebody simplify this for me?

heynnema
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1 Answers1

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ubuntu-gnome-desktop is a meta package that installs GNOME Shell, Ubuntu-specific settings, and any other packages that the Ubuntu GNOME team feel should be on a default install. That is what we will be seeing in 18.04's Ubuntu (and there will not be a separate Ubuntu GNOME flavour). From the release announcement of Ubuntu GNOME 17.04:

As announced last week by Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will include GNOME instead of Unity. Specifically, it will be GNOME (including gnome-shell) with minimal Ubuntu customization. Next year, if you are using either Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 LTS, you will be prompted to upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. For normal release users, this upgrade should happen with the release of 17.10.

As a result of this decision there will no longer be a separate GNOME flavor of Ubuntu. The development teams from both Ubuntu GNOME and Ubuntu Desktop will be merging resources and focusing on a single combined release, that provides the best of both GNOME and Ubuntu. We are currently liaising with the Canonical teams on how this will work out and more details will be announced in due course as we work out the specifics.

GNOME Flashback (originally called GNOME Fallback) is still available and will continue to be available. However, it is not the main desktop shell from GNOME, GNOME Shell is.

muru
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  • Thanks for your answer @muru. With the ubuntu-gnome-desktop user experience is so different from the gnome-shell user experience, which are we expected to use on a daily basis, and why include two different user experiences? Does that question make any sense to you? Still a little confused :-) – heynnema May 15 '17 at 01:18
  • What's so different about it? Aside from some light artwork changes, I feel Ubuntu GNOME's GNOME Shell is pretty much the same as GNOME Shell as released by GNOME. It's even in the FAQ: "Why don’t you customize GNOME more? Customizing GNOME would take away from our goal of providing GNOME the way GNOME developers intended." – muru May 15 '17 at 01:22
  • Maybe I'm just seeing something different than intended. I forget what it says at the login prompt, but if I choose one, it brings me to a menu-driven user interface with no launcher. If I hit the super key, which brings up gnome shell (I believe) it displays a black top panel with a clock in the middle, and a launcher on the left side of the screen. If I hit the super key again, I get brought back to the menu-driven system with no launcher. Is that they way it'll work in 18.04? I guess that I'll just have to play with it some more. – heynnema May 15 '17 at 01:29
  • That sounds like normal GNOME Shell to me. Maybe you'll find another answer by me somewhat useful: https://askubuntu.com/a/617189/158442 – muru May 15 '17 at 01:30