I've done some testing and sorry for the confusion but this is my
understanding about the situation:
1. When a TurboVNC session is started inside a normal 'login'-type SSH
session, the TurboVNC session inherits the environmental variables of that
SSH session
1. When I use e.g. 'Mate Terminal' inside the TurboVNC-session
everything works fine because /etc/profile and ~/.profile were sourced
when
the SSH session was started
2. When a TurboVNC session is started from Session Manager the TurboVNC
session doesn't inherit environmental variables set at /etc/profile or
~/.profile
1. This indicates the TurboVNC built-in SSH client opens a
'non-login'-type shell from where the TurboVNC session is started
3. The shells started (using e.g. 'Mate Terminal') inside the TurboVNC
session are 'non-login' type which is expected to my knowledge
1. This makes me think have I just been lucky with the correct
environmental variables inherited from the original SSH session
1. As a result I will probably just move the things I've done in
/etc/profile into /etc/bash.bashrc -> Problem solved !
torstai 5. helmikuuta 2026 klo 12.10.50 UTC+2 Kimmo kirjoitti:
> Hi Michael,
>
> The /etc/profile and /etc/turbovncserver.conf have nothing to do with each
> other. /etc/profile is a system-wide environment setup file which is loaded
> when an interactive login shell is started. Same goes for ~/.profile.
> /etc/turbovncserver.conf is a configuration file used when a
> TurboVNC-server is started. I just provided the information about
> /etc/turbovncserver.conf mainly to point out that I'm not using any custom
> startupx-script which could result the /etc/profile and ~/.profile not to
> be loaded.
>
> I'm not that familiar with what 'vncserver' -command actually does but
> with my system it seems not to source the /etc/profile and ~/.profile
> -files. This causes the TurboVNC remote desktop environment not to be
> configured properly.
>
> As manual pages for bash (man bash) point out, the ~/.profile is sourced
> only if one is found. Thus it doesn't mater if you don't have one.
> torstai 5. helmikuuta 2026 klo 11.28.27 UTC+2 Michael D. Setzer II
> kirjoitti:
>
>> On 4 Feb 2026 at 23:35, Kimmo wrote:
>> Date sent: Wed, 4 Feb 2026 23:35:26 -0800 (PST)
>> From: Kimmo <[email protected]>
>> To: TurboVNC User Discussion/Support <[email protected]>
>> Subject: Re: [TurboVNC-Users] Re: Session Manager and 'non-login' shells
>> Send reply to: [email protected]
>> >
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I will do some more testing but the system is pretty stock Ubuntu
>> > 22.04.5. and can't think of any settings that would affect this. The
>> > TurboVNC version is 'TurboVNC Server v3.2.91 (build 20251222)'. The
>> > /etc/turbovncserver.conf has only 'wm' and 'resolution' set. I found
>> out if I
>> > log in with SSH and start a session by running the 'vncserver'-command,
>> > the session inherits the correct environmental variables. So when the
>> > session starts it never sources /etc/profile or ~/.profile. However it
>> > sources /etc/bash.bashrc and ~/.bashrc. To me this indicates the
>> session
>> > starts somehow as "non-login"-type if you get what I mean. I will let
>> you
>> > know if I find out more.
>> >
>> On my setup (Fedora 42 on this machine) have this.
>> tail -n2 /etc/sysconfig/tvncservers
>> VNCSERVERS="PP:msetzerii"
>> VNCSERVERARGS[PP]="-wm xfce -geometry 1920x1080"
>> # rpm -qa | grep -i Turbo
>> libjpeg-turbo-3.1.2-1.fc42.x86_64
>> libjpeg-turbo-devel-3.1.2-1.fc42.x86_64
>> turbojpeg-3.1.2-1.fc42.x86_64
>> libjpeg-turbo-3.1.2-1.fc42.i686
>> libjpeg-turbo-devel-3.1.2-1.fc42.i686
>> turbovnc-3.2.91-20251222.x86_64
>> My file only has comments??
>> # cat /etc/turbovncserver.conf
>> ##
>> ## TurboVNC Server Configuration
>> ##
>> ## This file uses Perl syntax, although only one-line assignments
>> ## are allowed. Assignments can be applied to the following variables:
>> ##
>> ## $autokill -- 1 to automatically kill the TurboVNC session when the
>> ## X startup script exits or 0 to leave it running
>> ## [equivalent of -noautokill command-line option]
>> ## $depth -- color depth in bits per pixel (8, 16, 24, 30, or 32)
>> ## [equivalent of -depth command-line option]
>> ## $desktopName -- remote desktop name
>> ## [equivalent of -name command-line option]
>> ## $fontPath -- X11 font path
>> ## [equivalent of -fp command-line option]
>> ## $generateOTP -- 1 to generate an initial one-time password. (OTP
>> ## authentication must be enabled and permitted)
>> ## [equivalent of -otp command-line option]
>> ## $geometry -- desktop geometry, WIDTHxHEIGHT or
>> ## W0xH0+X0+Y0[,W1xH1+X1+Y1,...,WnxHn+Xn+Yn]
>> ## [equivalent of -geometry command-line option]
>> ## $noVNC -- directory containing noVNC
>> ## [equivalent of -novnc command-line option]
>> ## $noxstartup -- 1 to start the TurboVNC session with no X startup
>> script
>> ## [equivalent of -noxstartup command-line option]
>> ## $passwdFile -- path to VNC password file to use with VNC Password
>> ## authentication
>> ## $securityTypes -- comma-separated list of security types to enable
>> ## (passed to Xvnc in the -securitytypes argument)
>> ## $serverArgs -- additional arguments to pass to Xvnc (refer to the
>> Xvnc man
>> ## page for a list of accepted arguments)
>> ## $userDBus -- Using a unique D-Bus session bus instance for each
>> TurboVNC
>> ## session is necessary in order to run multiple TurboVNC
>> ## sessions (or a local session and a TurboVNC
>> ## session) simultaneously under the same user account,
>> but
>> ## this also causes issues with Control Group (cgroup)
>> v2 on
>> ## some systems. If this variable is set to 1, then the
>> ## TurboVNC session will use the per-user D-Bus session
>> bus
>> ## instance provided by systemd rather than a unique
>> D-Bus
>> ## session bus instance. That improves cgroup v2
>> ## compatibility at the expense of multi-session
>> capability.
>> ## $useUDS -- listen on a Unix domain socket rather than a TCP port
>> for
>> ## connections from VNC viewers
>> ## [equivalent of -uds command-line option]
>> ## $useVGL -- 1 to run the window manager using VirtualGL. This
>> variable
>> ## is ignored if $xstartup or $noxstartup is specified.
>> ## [equivalent of -vgl command-line option]
>> ## $vglrun -- the command used to invoke VirtualGL. This variable
>> can be
>> ## used to specify the location of the vglrun script or
>> to
>> ## specify additional arguments to vglrun.
>> ## $vncUserDir -- path to TurboVNC user directory (session information,
>> VNC
>> ## passwords, and log files are stored here)
>> ## $wm -- the window manager to use (for instance, "mate" or
>> "2d"),
>> ## which corresponds to a session desktop file under
>> ## /usr/share/xsessions or /usr/share/wayland-sessions
>> ## (/usr/local/share/xsessions on *BSD systems.) This
>> ## variable is ignored if $xstartup or $noxstartup is
>> ## specified.
>> ## [equivalent of -wm command-line option]
>> ## $x509CertFile -- path to X.509 signed certificate file (in PEM
>> format) to
>> ## use with X.509 encryption
>> ## [equivalent of -x509cert command-line option]
>> ## $x509KeyFile -- path to X.509 private key file (in PEM format) to use
>> with
>> ## X.509 encryption
>> ## [equivalent of -x509key command-line option]
>> ## $xstartup -- path to alternative X startup script
>> ## [equivalent of -xstartup command-line option]
>> ##
>> ## These settings are the default. Uncomment and edit to change.
>> #
>> # $autokill = 1;
>> # $depth = 24;
>> # $desktopName = "TurboVNC ($ENV{USER})";
>> # $fontPath = "";
>> # $generateOTP = 0;
>> # $geometry = "1240x900";
>> # $noVNC = "";
>> # $noxstartup = 0;
>> # $securityTypes = "TLSVnc, TLSOtp, TLSPlain, X509Vnc, X509Otp,
>> X509Plain, VNC, OTP, UnixLogin, Plain";
>> # $serverArgs = "";
>> # $userDBus = 0;
>> # $useUDS = 0;
>> # $useVGL = 0;
>> # $vglrun = "vglrun +wm";
>> # $vncUserDir = "$ENV{HOME}/.vnc";
>> # $wm = "";
>> # $xstartup = "${exedir}xstartup.turbovnc";
>> ## Here is an example of setting the font path:
>> #
>> # $fontPath = "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
>> # $fontPath = "$fontPath,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/";
>> ## You might wish to create the TurboVNC user directories under /tmp, to
>> ## ensure that VNC passwords are always kept on the local filesystem. To
>> do
>> ## that, uncomment the line below. Note that in this case, Xvnc will
>> search
>> ## for the .Xauthority file in this same directory by default.
>> #
>> # $vncUserDir = "/tmp/$ENV{USER}-vnc";
>> ## These settings are the default. Uncomment and edit to change.
>> #
>> # $passwdFile = "$vncUserDir/passwd";
>> # $x509CertFile = "$vncUserDir/x509_cert.pem";
>> # $x509KeyFile = "$vncUserDir/x509_private.pem";
>> the /etc/profile doesn't seem to have anything about turbovnc??
>> and don't have a ~.profile file
>> > keskiviikko 4. helmikuuta 2026 klo 16.47.35 UTC+2 DRC kirjoitti:
>> > I can't reproduce the issue. For me, /etc/profile is sourced properly
>> > for all connections made through the Session Manager. Is there
>> > additional information that might help me reproduce the problem, such
>> > as
>> > a special configuration on the host?
>> >
>> > DRC
>> >
>> >
>> > On 2/3/26 4:16 AM, Kimmo wrote:
>> > > Clarification to the original post:
>> > >
>> > > The shells inside all sessions are actually 'non-login' type, but the
>> > > sessions started using Session Manager don't source '/etc/profile'.
>> > > This causes some environmental variables set using '/etc/profile' not
>> > > to load.
>> > >
>> > > What would be the most elegant way to source '/etc/profile' for new
>> > > session while using Session Manager?
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
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>> > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/turbovnc-users/05966ad9-4c6f-4428-a
>> > 547-90dedb3f1e54n%40googlegroups.com .
>> +------------------------------------------------------------+
>> Michael D. Setzer II - Computer Science Instructor (Retired)
>> mailto:[email protected]
>> mailto:[email protected]
>> mailto:[email protected]
>> Guam - Where America's Day Begins
>> G4L Disk Imaging Project maintainer
>> http://sourceforge.net/projects/g4l/
>> +------------------------------------------------------------+
>>
>
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