Public bug reported: Shortly after I logged in, I started a gnome-terminal with Ctrl-Alt-T. I was surprised to see the message: To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>". See "man sudo_root" for details.
I was further surprised to see that /usr/bin/script started /bin/sh, not /bin/bash. So far, I've noticed (after moving my .profile and .bashrc aside) that the environment provided is only: DISPLAY=:0 PWD=/home/w3 SHLVL=1 TERM=xterm-256color VTE_VERSION=4205 WINDOWID=67108874 No HOME, SHELL, USER, ... A gnome-terminal started later gets no sudo complaints, and these environment variables: CLUTTER_IM_MODULE=xim COMPIZ_BIN_PATH=/usr/bin/ COMPIZ_CONFIG_PROFILE=ubuntu DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:abstract=/tmp/dbus-nolgZHSUSP DEFAULTS_PATH=/usr/share/gconf/ubuntu.default.path DESKTOP_SESSION=ubuntu DISPLAY=:0 GDM_LANG=en_CA GDMSESSION=ubuntu GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID=this-is-deprecated GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL= GNOME_KEYRING_PID= GPG_AGENT_INFO=/home/w3/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent:0:1 GTK2_MODULES=overlay-scrollbar GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus GTK_MODULES=gail:atk-bridge:unity-gtk-module HOME=/home/w3 IM_CONFIG_PHASE=1 INSTANCE= JOB=unity-settings-daemon LANG=en_CA.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=en_CA:en LIBVIRT_DEFAULT_URI=qemu:///system LOGNAME=w3 MANDATORY_PATH=/usr/share/gconf/ubuntu.mandatory.path PAM_KWALLET5_LOGIN=/tmp/kwallet5_w3.socket PATH=/home/w3/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin PWD=/home/w3 QT4_IM_MODULE=ibus QT_ACCESSIBILITY=1 QT_IM_MODULE=ibus QT_LINUX_ACCESSIBILITY_ALWAYS_ON=1 QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=appmenu-qt5 SESSION_MANAGER=local/aardvark:@/tmp/.ICE-unix/21072,unix/aardvark:/tmp/.ICE-unix/21072 SESSIONTYPE=gnome-session SESSION=ubuntu SHELL=/bin/bash SHLVL=1 SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/run/user/1003/keyring/ssh TERM=xterm-256color UPSTART_EVENTS=xsession started UPSTART_INSTANCE= UPSTART_JOB=unity7 UPSTART_SESSION=unix:abstract=/com/ubuntu/upstart-session/1003/20854 USER=w3 Why isn't gnome-terminal startup deterministic? I still have the malfunctioning gnome-terminal open if further diagnosis is possible or needed. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04 Package: gnome-terminal 3.18.3-1ubuntu1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-78.99-generic 4.4.62 Uname: Linux 4.4.0-78-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.6 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Thu May 25 16:05:52 2017 EcryptfsInUse: Yes InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-01-23 (1583 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425) SourcePackage: gnome-terminal UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) ** Affects: gnome-terminal (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Tags: amd64 apport-bug xenial -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-terminal in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1693607 Title: No HOME environment var, USER, SHELL, others not set To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-terminal/+bug/1693607/+subscriptions -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs