Thank you for very informative reply. That all makes sense.
As described in my previous message, I was just using TurboVNC in a way
which worked for me. With Session Manager things work the way they are
designed to work (mainly with login or non-login shells and which files do
the source). After understanding these things it's all clear for me now.
torstai 5. helmikuuta 2026 klo 17.44.24 UTC+2 DRC kirjoitti:
> My previous message was incorrect. I thought that I couldn't reproduce
> the issue on Rocky Linux, but in fact I can. I was just testing for it
> incorrectly.
>
> The behavior of the TurboVNC Session Manager in this regard is identical
> to the behavior of SSH if you specify a command to run. For example, if
> you modify /etc/profile so that it exports PROFILE_READ=1 and modify
> /etc/bashrc so that it exports BASHRC_READ=1:
>
> $ ssh {host} env | grep READ
> BASHRC_READ=1
>
> However,
>
> $ ssh {host} bash -cl env | grep READ
> PROFILE_READ=1
> BASHRC_READ=1
>
> The TurboVNC Session Manager does the equivalent of 'ssh bash -c
> /opt/TurboVNC/bin/vncserver', so you are correct that /etc/profile has not
> been executed at the point that /opt/TurboVNC/bin/vncserver is invoked by
> the Session Manager. However, if you open a shell in the TurboVNC session,
> /etc/profile will be executed. Thus, the issue is only that /etc/profile
> customizations will not affect the startup of the TurboVNC Server. Those
> customizations will still affect applications launched in the TurboVNC
> session.
>
> If you want environment variables to affect the TurboVNC Server or the
> window manager, then the preferred ways to do that are:
>
> 1. Modify /etc/turbovncserver.conf if the environment variable is for
> TurboVNC configuration and has an equivalent config file variable (most do.)
>
> 2. Use a custom xstartup.turbovnc file. For example:
>
> #!/bin/bash
> export MY_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE=foo
> exec /opt/TurboVNC/bin/xstartup.turbovnc
>
> Then set '$xstartup = "/etc/xstartup.turbovnc";' in
> /etc/turbovncserver.conf.
>
> DRC
>
> On 2/5/26 7:55 AM, Kimmo wrote:
>
> 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?
>>> > >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
>>> > Groups "TurboVNC User Discussion/Support" group.
>>> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
>>> an
>>> > email to [email protected].
>>> > To view this discussion visit
>>> > 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/
>>> +------------------------------------------------------------+
>>>
>> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "TurboVNC User Discussion/Support" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to [email protected].
>
> To view this discussion visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/turbovnc-users/801f46f9-51fe-4942-a607-34df6a3ca6d8n%40googlegroups.com
>
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/turbovnc-users/801f46f9-51fe-4942-a607-34df6a3ca6d8n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
> .
>
>
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"TurboVNC User Discussion/Support" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To view this discussion visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/turbovnc-users/745d100b-9853-40eb-b2fe-02b441b0c9e2n%40googlegroups.com.
