diff -u b/core/includes/install.inc b/core/includes/install.inc
--- b/core/includes/install.inc
+++ b/core/includes/install.inc
@@ -1046,14 +1046,9 @@
  *   - install: Optional parameters to override the installer:
  *     - theme: The machine name of a theme to use in the installer instead of
  *       Drupal's default installer theme.
- * - base profile: Existence of this key denotes that the installation profile
- *   depends on a parent installation profile.
- *   - name: The shortname of the base installation profile.
- *   - excluded_dependencies: An array of shortnames of other modules that have
- *     to be excluded from the base profile requirements. This allows e.g. to
- *     disable a demo module that would be installed by the base profile.
- *   If there are no excluded_dependencies, a shortcut of "base profile: name"
- *   can be used.
+ * - base profile: The shortname of the base installation profile. Existence of
+ *   this key denotes that the installation profile depends on a parent
+ *   installation profile.
  *
  * Note that this function does an expensive file system scan to get info file
  * information for dependencies. If you only need information from the info
diff -u b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Extension/ProfileHandler.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Extension/ProfileHandler.php
--- b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Extension/ProfileHandler.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Extension/ProfileHandler.php
@@ -123,48 +123,28 @@
         'version' => NULL,
         'hidden' => FALSE,
         'php' => DRUPAL_MINIMUM_PHP,
-        'base profile' => [
-          'name' => '',
-          'excluded_dependencies' => [],
-          'excluded_themes' => [],
-        ],
+        'base profile' => '',
       ];
 
       $profile_path = $this->getProfilePath($profile);
       $profile_file = $profile_path . "/$profile.info.yml";
       $info = $this->infoParser->parse($profile_file) + $defaults;
 
-      // Normalize any base profile info.
-      if (is_string($info['base profile'])) {
-        $info['base profile'] = [
-          'name' => $info['base profile'],
-          'excluded_dependencies' => [],
-          'excluded_themes' => [],
-        ];
-      }
-
       $profile_list = [];
       // Get the base profile dependencies.
-      if ($base_profile_name = $info['base profile']['name']) {
+      if ($base_profile_name = $info['base profile']) {
         $base_info = $this->getProfileInfo($base_profile_name);
         $profile_list += $base_info['profile_list'];
 
         // Ensure all dependencies are cleanly merged.
         $info['dependencies'] = array_merge($info['dependencies'], $base_info['dependencies']);
 
-        if (isset($info['base profile']['excluded_dependencies'])) {
-          // Apply excluded dependencies.
-          $info['dependencies'] = array_diff($info['dependencies'], $info['base profile']['excluded_dependencies']);
-        }
         // Ensure there's no circular dependency.
         $info['dependencies'] = array_diff($info['dependencies'], [$profile]);
 
         // Ensure all themes are cleanly merged.
         $info['themes'] = array_unique(array_merge($info['themes'], $base_info['themes']));
-        if (isset($info['base profile']['excluded_themes'])) {
-          // Apply excluded themes.
-          $info['themes'] = array_diff($info['themes'], $info['base profile']['excluded_themes']);
-        }
+
         // Ensure each theme is listed only once.
         $info['themes'] = array_unique($info['themes']);
 
@@ -292,7 +272,7 @@
     // Remove any base profiles.
     foreach ($profile_list as $profile_name) {
       $profile_info = $this->getProfileInfo($profile_name);
-      if ($base_profile = $profile_info['base profile']['name']) {
+      if ($base_profile = $profile_info['base profile']) {
         unset($distributions[$base_profile]);
       }
     }
diff -u b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Extension/ProfileHandlerInterface.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Extension/ProfileHandlerInterface.php
--- b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Extension/ProfileHandlerInterface.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Extension/ProfileHandlerInterface.php
@@ -14,9 +14,7 @@
    * Processing steps:
    *   1) Ensure default keys are set.
    *   2) Recursively collect dependencies from parent profiles.
-   *   3) Exclude dependencies explicitly mentioned in
-   *      $info['base profile']['exclude_dependencies']
-   *   4) Add the $info['profile_list'] list of dependent profiles.
+   *   3) Add the $info['profile_list'] list of dependent profiles.
    *
    * @param string $profile
    *   The name of profile.
diff -u b/core/profiles/testing_inherited/testing_inherited.info.yml b/core/profiles/testing_inherited/testing_inherited.info.yml
--- b/core/profiles/testing_inherited/testing_inherited.info.yml
+++ b/core/profiles/testing_inherited/testing_inherited.info.yml
@@ -5,17 +5,11 @@
 core: 8.x
 hidden: true
 
-base profile:
-  name: testing
-  excluded_dependencies:
-    - page_cache
-  excluded_themes:
-    - classy
+base profile: testing
 
 dependencies:
   - block
   - config
-  - syslog
 
 themes:
   - stable
diff -u b/core/profiles/testing_inherited/tests/src/Functional/InheritedProfileTest.php b/core/profiles/testing_inherited/tests/src/Functional/InheritedProfileTest.php
--- b/core/profiles/testing_inherited/tests/src/Functional/InheritedProfileTest.php
+++ b/core/profiles/testing_inherited/tests/src/Functional/InheritedProfileTest.php
@@ -28,13 +28,11 @@
     // Check that stable is the default theme.
     $this->assertEquals('stable', $this->config('system.theme')->get('default'));
 
-    // Check the excluded_dependencies flag on installation profiles.
+    // Check that parent dependencies are installed.
     $this->assertTrue(\Drupal::moduleHandler()->moduleExists('config'));
-    $this->assertFalse(\Drupal::moduleHandler()->moduleExists('page_cache'));
 
-    // Check that all themes were installed, except excluded ones.
+    // Check that all themes were installed.
     $this->assertTrue(\Drupal::service('theme_handler')->themeExists('stable'));
-    $this->assertFalse(\Drupal::service('theme_handler')->themeExists('classy'));
   }
 
 }
diff -u b/core/profiles/testing_subsubprofile/testing_subsubprofile.info.yml b/core/profiles/testing_subsubprofile/testing_subsubprofile.info.yml
--- b/core/profiles/testing_subsubprofile/testing_subsubprofile.info.yml
+++ b/core/profiles/testing_subsubprofile/testing_subsubprofile.info.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,4 @@
-base profile:
-  name: testing_inherited
-  excluded_dependencies:
-    - config
+base profile: testing_inherited
 
 dependencies:
-  - page_cache
+  - syslog
diff -u b/core/profiles/testing_subsubprofile/tests/src/Functional/DeepInheritedProfileTest.php b/core/profiles/testing_subsubprofile/tests/src/Functional/DeepInheritedProfileTest.php
--- b/core/profiles/testing_subsubprofile/tests/src/Functional/DeepInheritedProfileTest.php
+++ b/core/profiles/testing_subsubprofile/tests/src/Functional/DeepInheritedProfileTest.php
@@ -23,13 +23,12 @@
     // Check that stable is the default theme enabled in parent profile.
     $this->assertEquals('stable', $this->config('system.theme')->get('default'));
 
-    // page_cache was enabled in main profile, disabled in parent and enabled
-    // in this profile.
+    // page_cache was enabled in main profile.
     $this->assertTrue(\Drupal::moduleHandler()->moduleExists('page_cache'));
     // block was enabled in parent profile.
     $this->assertTrue(\Drupal::moduleHandler()->moduleExists('block'));
-    // config was enabled in parent profile and disabled in this.
-    $this->assertFalse(\Drupal::moduleHandler()->moduleExists('config'));
+    // syslog was enabled in this profile.
+    $this->assertTrue(\Drupal::moduleHandler()->moduleExists('syslog'));
   }
 
 }
diff -u b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Extension/ProfileHandlerTest.php b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Extension/ProfileHandlerTest.php
--- b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Extension/ProfileHandlerTest.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Extension/ProfileHandlerTest.php
@@ -32,8 +32,7 @@
     $info = $profile_handler->getProfileInfo('testing_inherited');
     $this->assertNotEmpty($info);
     $this->assertEquals($info['name'], 'Testing Inherited');
-    $this->assertEquals($info['base profile']['name'], 'testing');
-    $this->assertEquals($info['base profile']['excluded_dependencies'], ['page_cache']);
+    $this->assertEquals($info['base profile'], 'testing');
     $this->assertTrue(in_array('config', $info['dependencies'], 'config should be found in dependencies'));
     $this->assertFalse(in_array('page_cache', $info['dependencies'], 'page_cache should not be found in dependencies'));
     $this->assertTrue($info['hidden'], 'Profiles should be hidden');
@@ -50,19 +49,11 @@
     $this->assertInternalType('array', $info['base profile']);
 
     $this->assertArrayHasKey('name', $info['base profile']);
-    $this->assertEmpty($info['base profile']['name']);
-
-    $this->assertArrayHasKey('excluded_dependencies', $info['base profile']);
-    $this->assertInternalType('array', $info['base profile']['excluded_dependencies']);
-    $this->assertEmpty($info['base profile']['excluded_dependencies']);
-
-    $this->assertArrayHasKey('excluded_themes', $info['base profile']);
-    $this->assertInternalType('array', $info['base profile']['excluded_themes']);
-    $this->assertEmpty($info['base profile']['excluded_themes']);
+    $this->assertEmpty($info['base profile']);
 
     // Tests three levels profile inheritance.
     $info = $profile_handler->getProfileInfo('testing_subsubprofile');
-    $this->assertEquals($info['base profile']['name'], 'testing_inherited');
+    $this->assertEquals($info['base profile'], 'testing_inherited');
     $this->assertEquals($info['profile_list'], [
       'testing' => 'testing',
       'testing_inherited' => 'testing_inherited',