diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/README.rst b/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/README.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 559ae2980..000000000
--- a/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/README.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-===========
-ubuntu-core
-===========
-Use Ubuntu Core cloud images as the baseline for built disk images.
-
-Overrides:
-
- * To use a non-default URL for downloading base Ubuntu cloud images,
- use the environment variable DIB\_CLOUD\_IMAGES
- * To download a non-default release of Ubuntu cloud images, use the
- environment variable DIB\_RELEASE
- * To use different mirrors rather than the default of archive.ubuntu.com and
- security.ubuntu.com, use the environment variable DIB\_DISTRIBUTION\_MIRROR
-
-.. element_deps::
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/element-deps b/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/element-deps
deleted file mode 100644
index 4b609839b..000000000
--- a/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/element-deps
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@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-cache-url
-dpkg
-ubuntu-common
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/element-provides b/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/element-provides
deleted file mode 100644
index a72e04969..000000000
--- a/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/element-provides
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-operating-system
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/environment.d/10-ubuntu-distro-name.bash b/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/environment.d/10-ubuntu-distro-name.bash
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index 0fb91527b..000000000
--- a/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/environment.d/10-ubuntu-distro-name.bash
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@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-export DISTRO_NAME=ubuntu
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/package-installs.yaml b/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/package-installs.yaml
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index 85d46fff5..000000000
--- a/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/package-installs.yaml
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@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-apt-xapian-index:
- phase: pre-install.d
- uninstall: True
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/root.d/10-cache-ubuntu-image b/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/root.d/10-cache-ubuntu-image
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index f3a36aba5..000000000
--- a/diskimage_builder/elements/ubuntu-core/root.d/10-cache-ubuntu-image
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@@ -1,74 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-# These are useful, or at worst not harmful, for all images we build.
-
-# dib-lint: disable=safe_sudo
-
-if [ ${DIB_DEBUG_TRACE:-0} -gt 0 ]; then
- set -x
-fi
-set -eu
-set -o pipefail
-
-[ -n "$ARCH" ]
-[ -n "$TARGET_ROOT" ]
-
-shopt -s extglob
-
-DIB_RELEASE=${DIB_RELEASE:-trusty}
-
-declare -A release_numbers
-release_numbers[trusty]=14.04
-release_numbers[vivid]=15.04
-release_numbers[wily]=15.10
-release_numbers[xenial]=16.04
-release_numbers[yakkety]=16.10
-release_numbers[zesty]=17.04
-release_numbers[bionic]=18.04
-
-numeric_release=${release_numbers[$DIB_RELEASE]}
-DIB_CLOUD_IMAGES=${DIB_CLOUD_IMAGES:-http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-core/releases/$numeric_release/release}
-BASE_IMAGE_FILE=${BASE_IMAGE_FILE:-ubuntu-core-$numeric_release-core-$ARCH.tar.gz}
-SHA256SUMS=${SHA256SUMS:-$DIB_CLOUD_IMAGES/SHA256SUMS}
-CACHED_FILE=$DIB_IMAGE_CACHE/$BASE_IMAGE_FILE
-CACHED_FILE_LOCK=$DIB_LOCKFILES/$BASE_IMAGE_FILE.lock
-CACHED_SUMS=$DIB_IMAGE_CACHE/SHA256SUMS.ubuntu-core.$DIB_RELEASE.$ARCH
-
-function get_ubuntu_tarball() {
- if [ -n "$DIB_OFFLINE" -a -f "$CACHED_FILE" ] ; then
- echo "Not checking freshness of cached $CACHED_FILE."
- else
- echo "Fetching Base Image"
- $TMP_HOOKS_PATH/bin/cache-url $SHA256SUMS $CACHED_SUMS
- $TMP_HOOKS_PATH/bin/cache-url \
- $DIB_CLOUD_IMAGES/$BASE_IMAGE_FILE $CACHED_FILE
- pushd $DIB_IMAGE_CACHE
- if ! grep "$BASE_IMAGE_FILE" $CACHED_SUMS | sha256sum --check - ; then
- # It is likely that an upstream http(s) proxy has given us a skewed
- # result - either a cached SHA file or a cached image. Use cache-busting
- # to get (as long as caches are compliant...) fresh files.
- # Try the sha256sum first, just in case that is the stale one (avoiding
- # downloading the larger image), and then if the sums still fail retry
- # the image.
- $TMP_HOOKS_PATH/bin/cache-url -f $SHA256SUMS $CACHED_SUMS
- if ! grep "$BASE_IMAGE_FILE" $CACHED_SUMS | sha256sum --check - ; then
- $TMP_HOOKS_PATH/bin/cache-url -f \
- $DIB_CLOUD_IMAGES/$BASE_IMAGE_FILE $CACHED_FILE
- grep "$BASE_IMAGE_FILE" $CACHED_SUMS | sha256sum --check -
- fi
- fi
- popd
- fi
- # Extract the base image (use --numeric-owner to avoid UID/GID mismatch between
- # image tarball and host OS e.g. when building Ubuntu image on an openSUSE host)
- sudo tar -C $TARGET_ROOT --numeric-owner -xzf $DIB_IMAGE_CACHE/$BASE_IMAGE_FILE
-}
-
-(
- echo "Getting $CACHED_FILE_LOCK: $(date)"
- # Wait up to 20 minutes for another process to download
- if ! flock -w 1200 9 ; then
- echo "Did not get $CACHED_FILE_LOCK: $(date)"
- exit 1
- fi
- get_ubuntu_tarball
-) 9> $CACHED_FILE_LOCK