diff --git a/installers-conda/resources/spyder-menu.json b/installers-conda/resources/spyder-menu.json
index 07097b68dc6..3719ab8f330 100644
--- a/installers-conda/resources/spyder-menu.json
+++ b/installers-conda/resources/spyder-menu.json
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
                     "StartupWMClass": "Spyder"
                 },
                 "osx": {
-                    "precommand": "eval \"$($SHELL -l -c \"declare -x\")\"",
                     "command": [
                         "$(dirname $0)/python",
                         "{{ PREFIX }}/bin/spyder",
diff --git a/spyder/plugins/ipythonconsole/utils/kernelspec.py b/spyder/plugins/ipythonconsole/utils/kernelspec.py
index 20bfaa7838b..475f2844e28 100644
--- a/spyder/plugins/ipythonconsole/utils/kernelspec.py
+++ b/spyder/plugins/ipythonconsole/utils/kernelspec.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
     SpyderKernelError)
 from spyder.utils.conda import (add_quotes, get_conda_env_path, is_conda_env,
                                 find_conda)
-from spyder.utils.environ import clean_env
+from spyder.utils.environ import clean_env, get_user_environment_variables
 from spyder.utils.misc import get_python_executable
 from spyder.utils.programs import is_python_interpreter, is_module_installed
 
@@ -171,7 +171,11 @@ def env(self):
         """Env vars for kernels"""
         default_interpreter = self.get_conf(
             'default', section='main_interpreter')
-        env_vars = os.environ.copy()
+
+        # Ensure that user environment variables are included, but don't
+        # override existing environ values
+        env_vars = get_user_environment_variables()
+        env_vars.update(os.environ)
 
         # Avoid IPython adding the virtualenv on which Spyder is running
         # to the kernel sys.path
@@ -193,7 +197,7 @@ def env(self):
         # Environment variables that we need to pass to the kernel
         env_vars.update({
             'SPY_EXTERNAL_INTERPRETER': (not default_interpreter
-                or self.path_to_custom_interpreter),
+                                         or self.path_to_custom_interpreter),
             'SPY_UMR_ENABLED': self.get_conf(
                 'umr/enabled', section='main_interpreter'),
             'SPY_UMR_VERBOSE': self.get_conf(
diff --git a/spyder/utils/environ.py b/spyder/utils/environ.py
index d100570359c..051802ffef6 100644
--- a/spyder/utils/environ.py
+++ b/spyder/utils/environ.py
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 """
 
 # Standard library imports
+from functools import lru_cache
+import logging
 import os
 from pathlib import Path
 import re
@@ -22,11 +24,46 @@
 from qtpy.QtWidgets import QMessageBox
 
 # Local imports
-from spyder.config.base import _, running_in_ci
+from spyder.config.base import _, running_in_ci, get_conf_path
 from spyder.widgets.collectionseditor import CollectionsEditor
 from spyder.utils.icon_manager import ima
 from spyder.utils.programs import run_shell_command
 
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+@lru_cache
+def _get_user_env_script():
+    """
+    To get user environment variables from login and interactive startup files
+    on posix, both -l and -i flags must be used. Parsing the environment list
+    is problematic if the variable has a newline character, but Python's
+    os.environ can do this for us. However, executing Python in an interactive
+    shell in a subprocess causes Spyder to hang on Linux. Using a shell script
+    resolves the issue. Note that -i must be in the sha-bang line; if -i and
+    -l are swapped, Spyder will hang.
+    """
+    script_text = None
+    shell = os.getenv('SHELL', '/bin/bash')
+    user_env_script = Path(get_conf_path()) / 'user-env.sh'
+
+    if Path(shell).name in ('bash', 'zsh'):
+        script_text = (
+            f"#!{shell} -i\n"
+            f"{shell} -l -c"
+            f" \"{sys.executable} -c 'import os; print(dict(os.environ))'\" "
+            f"\n"
+        )
+    else:
+        logger.info("Getting user environment variables is not supported "
+                    "for shell '%s'", shell)
+
+    if script_text is not None:
+        user_env_script.write_text(script_text)
+        user_env_script.chmod(0o744)  # Make it executable for the user
+
+    return str(user_env_script)
+
 
 def envdict2listdict(envdict):
     """Dict --> Dict of lists"""
@@ -54,24 +91,24 @@ def get_user_environment_variables():
     env_var : dict
         Key-value pairs of environment variables.
     """
-    try:
-        if os.name == 'nt':
-            key = winreg.OpenKey(winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Environment")
-            num_values = winreg.QueryInfoKey(key)[1]
-            env_var = dict(
-                [winreg.EnumValue(key, k)[:2] for k in range(num_values)]
-            )
-        else:
-            shell = os.environ.get("SHELL", "/bin/bash")
-            cmd = (
-                f"{shell} -l -c"
-                f""" "{sys.executable} -c 'import os; print(dict(os.environ))'" """
-            )
-            proc = run_shell_command(cmd, env={}, text=True)
+    env_var = {}
+    if os.name == 'nt':
+        key = winreg.OpenKey(winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Environment")
+        num_values = winreg.QueryInfoKey(key)[1]
+        env_var = dict(
+            [winreg.EnumValue(key, k)[:2] for k in range(num_values)]
+        )
+    elif os.name == 'posix':
+        try:
+            user_env_script = _get_user_env_script()
+            proc = run_shell_command(user_env_script, env={}, text=True)
             stdout, stderr = proc.communicate()
-            env_var = eval(stdout, None)
-    except Exception:
-        return {}
+            if stderr:
+                logger.info(stderr.strip())
+            if stdout:
+                env_var = eval(stdout, None)
+        except Exception as exc:
+            logger.info(exc)
 
     return env_var