diff --git a/docker/appimage/build-appimage.sh b/docker/appimage/build-appimage.sh
index 7d98f036..793d3558 100644
--- a/docker/appimage/build-appimage.sh
+++ b/docker/appimage/build-appimage.sh
@@ -1,75 +1,77 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # Build an AppImage of Kleopatra
 # Copyright (C) 2021 g10 Code GmbH
 #
 # Software engineering by Ingo Klöcker <dev@ingo-kloecker.de>
 #
 # This file is part of GnuPG.
 #
 # GnuPG is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 # the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
 # (at your option) any later version.
 #
 # GnuPG is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 # GNU General Public License for more details.
 #
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program; if not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0+
 
 set -e
 
 source /opt/rh/devtoolset-7/enable
 
 cd /src/packages
 ./download.sh
 
 cd /src
 ./configure --enable-appimage --enable-maintainer-mode --disable-manuals
 
 cd /src
 make
 
 echo 'rootdir = $APPDIR/usr' >/build/AppDir/usr/bin/gpgconf.ctl
+# Enable the next to build a GnuPG VSD version
+#echo 'sysconfdir = /etc/gnupg-vsd' >>/build/AppDir/usr/bin/gpgconf.ctl
 
 export PATH=/opt/linuxdeploy/usr/bin:$PATH
 export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/build/install/lib
 
 # tell the linuxdeploy qt-plugin where to find qmake
 export QMAKE=/build/install/bin/qmake
 
 # create plugin directories expected by linuxdeploy qt-plugin
 # workaround for
 # [qt/stdout] Deploy[qt/stderr] terminate called after throwing an instance of 'boost::filesystem::filesystem_error'
 # [qt/stderr]   what():  boost::filesystem::directory_iterator::construct: No such file or directory: "/build/AppDir/usr/plugins/sqldrivers"
 # ERROR: Failed to run plugin: qt (exit code: 6)
 mkdir -p /build/install/plugins/sqldrivers
 
 # copy KDE plugins
 for d in iconengines kf5 pim; do
     mkdir -p /build/AppDir/usr/plugins/${d}/
     rsync -av --delete --omit-dir-times /build/install/lib64/plugins/${d}/ /build/AppDir/usr/plugins/${d}/
 done
 
 cd /build
 # remove existing AppRun and wrapped AppRun, that may be left over from a previous run of
 # linuxdeploy, to ensure that our custom AppRun is deployed
 rm -f /build/AppDir/AppRun /build/AppDir/AppRun.wrapped
 # remove existing translations that may be left over from a previous run of linuxdeploy
 rm -rf /build/AppDir/usr/translations
 
 # extract Kleopatra version for filename of AppImage
 kleopatra_version=$(grep KLEOPATRA_VERSION_STRING /build/build/kleopatra-*-build/version-kleopatra.h | cut -d '"' -f 2 | cut -d '.' -f 1-3)
 export OUTPUT=Kleopatra-${kleopatra_version}-x86_64.AppImage
 
 linuxdeploy --appdir /build/AppDir \
             --desktop-file /build/AppDir/usr/share/applications/org.kde.kleopatra.desktop \
             --icon-file /build/AppDir/usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/kleopatra.png \
             --custom-apprun /src/src/appimage/AppRun \
             --plugin qt \
             --output appimage \
     2>&1 | tee /build/logs/linuxdeploy-kleopatra.log
diff --git a/src/appimage/AppRun b/src/appimage/AppRun
index febc7de4..e0fcbb91 100755
--- a/src/appimage/AppRun
+++ b/src/appimage/AppRun
@@ -1,29 +1,73 @@
 #! /usr/bin/env bash
 
+if [ "$1" = "--help" ]; then
+    cat <<EOF
+GnuPG as AppImage
+Options:
+  -c          Run an intercactive shell.
+  -c command  Run command with optional arguments.
+  --gui       Run the GUI with optional arguments.
+  --debug     Enable debugging of the start script.
+  --help      Print this help.
+The default is to run the GUI with optional arguments.
+EOF
+    exit 0
+fi
+if [ "$1" = "--debug" ]; then
+    shift
+    set -x
+fi
+
+
 this_dir="$(readlink -f "$(dirname "$0")")"
 
 export PATH="${APPDIR}/usr/bin:${PATH}"
 export XDG_DATA_DIRS="${APPDIR}/usr/share:${XDG_DATA_DIRS:-/usr/share}:/usr/share"
 export XDG_CONFIG_DIRS="${APPDIR}/usr/etc/xdg:${XDG_CONFIG_DIRS:-/etc/xdg}:/etc/xdg"
 
-"${this_dir}/usr/bin/kleopatra" "$@"
+# Allow GnuPG config scripts to detect the appimage install.  We can't
+# rely on APPDIR because other appimages might come with their own
+# gnupg version.  Change the value to "vsd" for a GnuPG VS-Desktop build.
+export _gnupg_appimage=generic
 
-dirmngr=$(gpgconf --list-components | grep ^dirmngr: | cut -d ':' -f 3)
-if ps -o exe -C dirmngr | grep -q "${dirmngr}"; then
-    echo Shutting down dirmngr
-    gpgconf --kill dirmngr
+if [ -z "$SHELL" ]; then
+    SHELL="$(grep '/bash$' /etc/shells)"
+    if [ -z "$SHELL" ]; then
+        export SHELL=/bin/bash
+    fi
 fi
 
-scdaemon=$(gpgconf --list-components | grep ^scdaemon: | cut -d ':' -f 3)
-if ps -o exe -C scdaemon | grep -q "${scdaemon}"; then
-    echo Shutting down scdaemon
-    gpgconf --kill scdaemon
+if [ "$1" = "-c" ]; then
+    shift
+    if [ ! -x "$SHELL" ]; then
+        echo "No shell found" >&2
+        exit 2
+    fi
+    if [ -n "$1" ]; then
+        pgm="$SHELL"
+        pgmargs="-c $@"
+    else
+        pgm="$SHELL"
+        pgmargs=-i
+    fi
+else
+    # Ignore the optional --gui option
+    if [ "$1" = "--gui" ]; then
+        shift
+    fi
+    if [ -x "${this_dir}/usr/bin/kleopatra" ];then
+        pgm="${this_dir}/usr/bin/kleopatra"
+        pgmargs="$@"
+    else
+        echo "Kleopatra not found" >&2
+        exit 2
+    fi
 fi
 
-agent=$(gpgconf --list-components | grep ^gpg-agent: | cut -d ':' -f 3)
-if ps -o exe -C gpg-agent | grep -q "${agent}"; then
-    echo Shutting down gpg-agent
-    gpgconf --kill all
-fi
+# Start gpg-agent launching a program.  gpg-agent will then watch for
+# termination of the program and kill itself after this has been
+# detected.  We also steal an existing socket so that already running
+# system instances of gpg-agent are not anymore used.
+"${this_dir}/usr/bin/gpg-agent" --steal-socket --daemon -- $pgm $pgmargs
 
-echo Goodbye!
+echo Goodbye from the GnuPG AppImage! >&2