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I have a GUI application which I somehow want to be running 24/7 with a desktop user, so that the rest of users are able to access that desktop somehow (using a vino server, or any other kind of desktop sharing solution).

The thing is, I don't know how to achieve that. My ideas, so far:

  • Setting the GUI application as a system service: would not work, as the system itself doesn't have a desktop, so I guess this only applies to console appplications
  • Creating a nologin user where the GUI application runs as a user service, but I don't know how to make the nologin user run automatically on system boot
  • Modifying the software so that backend and frontend are separated, run the backend as a system service and then access through frontend with any user: best solution, but also quite expensive given the required changes to the software.

So: Is this possible at all? How can I achieve this?

EDIT. I will add further context.

Due to security requirements, I am required to move to an OpenLDAP solution where all human users have a personal account which gets closed after inactivity time.

Until now, we just had a common account for all human users where a certain bespoke software application with GUI was running 24/7. If I execute this application into one of the new personal accounts, then the execution will finish as soon as the account gets closed for inactivity, and even if that wasn't the case, other operators will not be able to access the application as it is running for a different user.

That's why my initial intention was running the application in a non-human account, nologin or similar, so that each human account is able to access the desktop of that non-human user and use the software. But for that, I need the non-human account to run directly when the OS loads without login or any kind of intervention. Just like a service account running a web server 24/7 without login required, but with a desktop.

So, is this possible?

  • Your question is not clear but here is what I think it says you want to run a GUI app on a non GUI server and access it remotely? Please make the question clear and what version of Ubuntu are you running. As written I do not think you can do what you describe. – David Sep 27 '22 at 09:54
  • @David It is a racked server, but running Ubuntu 20.4 WITH desktop (in fact MATE, but that should not matter: if that is a limitation, I could go to regular Ubuntu). I want to run the GUI app automatically in a service account, so that the human user accounts can access the other desktop (maybe with xhost, or a desktop sharing solution). Is that possible? – Roman Rdgz Sep 27 '22 at 10:58
  • @vanadium I have edited for further context. I could run in in a different account A, and access it from other accounts B, C, D... but I do have security constraints which do not allow me to login into A. Going vitual? I do not know how would that help: does Ubuntu allow me to run a virtual machine which can be accessible from every user, and ensure that it is running 24/7 if no user logged into it? – Roman Rdgz Sep 27 '22 at 11:07
  • @user535733 I do not think the problem is to logout users. I understand the system currently is set up like that. Anyway, it is all quite unclear. – vanadium Sep 27 '22 at 15:00

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