Why do I get this warning from Gnome keyring in Xubuntu?

I have installed xubuntu-desktop ontop of a stock Ubuntu installation.

When using ssh, or more specifically git, I always get this warning

WARNING: gnome-keyring:: couldn't connect to: /tmp/keyring-IVaeDO/pkcs11: No such file or directory

I have done a fair amount of googling to disable/enable the proper services at boot time, but so far I always end up with this error.

Any insight on completely removing gnome-keyring, and it's downfalls, OR integrating gnome-keyring into xubuntu/xfce would be awesome.

Under a Bourne shell, you can turn off gnome-keyring and get rid of this warning by running:

unset GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL

to remove the gnome keyring path from your environment variables. You can also put this command at the end of your ~/.bashrc file.

Under a C shell, the equivalent command is:

unsetenv GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL

and the command can be put at the end of your ~/.cshrc file.

You get this warning because gnome services such as gnome-keyring-daemon and gnome-settings-daemon are not normally running when you are logged into a Xubuntu or Xfce session.

However, the quick fix that has worked for me is to go to the menu and choose settings > settings manager > session and startup > advanced and enable Gnome services (see screenshot below). Now, all installed Gnome services will start when you login, and you should be able to use the functionality of gnome-keyring-daemon (although further configuration may be necessary, as I note below).

It is important to note that you will have to logout and login again for this to take effect, and then services such as these will be running (if you have already have installed them with gnome applications):

You may need to tweak other things in the Xfce/Xubuntu session, depending on how you wish to use gnome-keyring-daemon. There are some references to using it with ssh on this blog and many others out there, but there can be problems to overcome with using it on Xubuntu.

It is too big of a topic to produce a general answer on the pros and cons of gnome-keyring, but these hints should enable you to begin integrating it into a Xubuntu session.

However, if these suggestions don't solve the problem, you may be a victim of the problem described at Launchpad regarding gnome-keyring.