diff --git a/internal/boxcli/shellenv.go b/internal/boxcli/shellenv.go
index a6b61e2ae4e..eefd4c83fd5 100644
--- a/internal/boxcli/shellenv.go
+++ b/internal/boxcli/shellenv.go
@@ -149,9 +149,10 @@ func shellEnvFunc(
 			Pure:              flags.pure,
 			SkipRecompute:     !flags.recomputeEnv,
 		},
-		NoRefreshAlias: flags.noRefreshAlias,
-		RunHooks:       flags.runInitHook,
-		ShellFormat:    shellFormat,
+		NoRefreshAlias:  flags.noRefreshAlias,
+		OnlyModifiedEnv: true,
+		RunHooks:        flags.runInitHook,
+		ShellFormat:     shellFormat,
 	})
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
diff --git a/internal/devbox/devbox.go b/internal/devbox/devbox.go
index 4c3f82421ce..b12af32c008 100644
--- a/internal/devbox/devbox.go
+++ b/internal/devbox/devbox.go
@@ -379,6 +379,16 @@ func (d *Devbox) EnvExports(ctx context.Context, opts devopt.EnvExportsOpts) (st
 		return "", err
 	}
 
+	// For `devbox shellenv`, only emit the variables that Devbox actually adds
+	// or changes relative to the current shell. Re-exporting unrelated variables
+	// (e.g. HOSTNAME, LANG) is redundant, and can fail when the user's shell
+	// marks some of them read-only (e.g. PROFILEREAD on openSUSE). See #2826.
+	// In pure mode we keep the full environment, since the goal there is a
+	// complete, self-contained environment rather than a diff.
+	if opts.OnlyModifiedEnv && !opts.EnvOptions.Pure {
+		envs = onlyModifiedEnvVars(envs, envir.PairsToMap(os.Environ()))
+	}
+
 	// Use the appropriate export format based on shell type
 	var envStr string
 	if opts.ShellFormat == devopt.ShellFormatNushell {
diff --git a/internal/devbox/devopt/devboxopts.go b/internal/devbox/devopt/devboxopts.go
index 9afeaccc4c1..4d575d264bf 100644
--- a/internal/devbox/devopt/devboxopts.go
+++ b/internal/devbox/devopt/devboxopts.go
@@ -79,8 +79,15 @@ const (
 type EnvExportsOpts struct {
 	EnvOptions     EnvOptions
 	NoRefreshAlias bool
-	RunHooks       bool
-	ShellFormat    ShellFormat
+	// OnlyModifiedEnv restricts the exported variables to those that Devbox adds
+	// or changes relative to the current environment. It is used by
+	// `devbox shellenv` so it does not re-export unrelated (and possibly
+	// read-only) variables. It is ignored in pure mode, where the intent is to
+	// emit a complete, self-contained environment rather than a diff against the
+	// current shell.
+	OnlyModifiedEnv bool
+	RunHooks        bool
+	ShellFormat     ShellFormat
 }
 
 // EnvOptions configure the Devbox Environment in the `computeEnv` function.
diff --git a/internal/devbox/envvars.go b/internal/devbox/envvars.go
index 307546f30e0..4e0ebbbda10 100644
--- a/internal/devbox/envvars.go
+++ b/internal/devbox/envvars.go
@@ -164,6 +164,22 @@ func exportifyNushell(w io.Writer, vars map[string]string) string {
 	return strings.TrimSpace(strb.String())
 }
 
+// onlyModifiedEnvVars returns the subset of env whose values are new or differ
+// from the ambient environment. Variables whose value already matches the
+// ambient environment are omitted: re-exporting them is redundant, and at worst
+// it breaks `eval "$(devbox shellenv)"` when the user's shell marks some of
+// those variables read-only (e.g. PROFILEREAD on openSUSE, which produces
+// "read-only variable: PROFILEREAD"). See issue #2826.
+func onlyModifiedEnvVars(env, ambient map[string]string) map[string]string {
+	modified := make(map[string]string, len(env))
+	for key, val := range env {
+		if ambientVal, ok := ambient[key]; !ok || ambientVal != val {
+			modified[key] = val
+		}
+	}
+	return modified
+}
+
 // addEnvIfNotPreviouslySetByDevbox adds the key-value pairs from new to existing,
 // but only if the key was not previously set by devbox
 // Caveat, this won't mark the values as set by devbox automatically. Instead,
diff --git a/internal/devbox/envvars_test.go b/internal/devbox/envvars_test.go
index d387feb8c19..c0adfc7cd06 100644
--- a/internal/devbox/envvars_test.go
+++ b/internal/devbox/envvars_test.go
@@ -47,6 +47,46 @@ func TestExportifySkipsInvalidNames(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestOnlyModifiedEnvVars ensures that variables identical to the ambient
+// environment are dropped while new or changed variables are kept. This is what
+// keeps `devbox shellenv` from re-exporting unrelated, possibly read-only
+// variables (see issue #2826).
+func TestOnlyModifiedEnvVars(t *testing.T) {
+	ambient := map[string]string{
+		"HOSTNAME":    "myhost",
+		"LANG":        "en_US.UTF-8",
+		"PROFILEREAD": "true",
+		"PATH":        "/usr/bin:/bin",
+	}
+	env := map[string]string{
+		"HOSTNAME":            "myhost",               // unchanged -> dropped
+		"LANG":                "en_US.UTF-8",          // unchanged -> dropped
+		"PROFILEREAD":         "true",                 // unchanged (read-only) -> dropped
+		"PATH":                "/devbox/bin:/usr/bin", // changed -> kept
+		"DEVBOX_PROJECT_ROOT": "/home/user/proj",      // new -> kept
+	}
+
+	got := onlyModifiedEnvVars(env, ambient)
+
+	want := map[string]string{
+		"PATH":                "/devbox/bin:/usr/bin",
+		"DEVBOX_PROJECT_ROOT": "/home/user/proj",
+	}
+	if len(got) != len(want) {
+		t.Fatalf("onlyModifiedEnvVars returned %d vars, want %d: %v", len(got), len(want), got)
+	}
+	for k, v := range want {
+		if got[k] != v {
+			t.Errorf("onlyModifiedEnvVars[%q] = %q, want %q", k, got[k], v)
+		}
+	}
+	for _, dropped := range []string{"HOSTNAME", "LANG", "PROFILEREAD"} {
+		if _, ok := got[dropped]; ok {
+			t.Errorf("expected unchanged var %q to be dropped, got:\n%v", dropped, got)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestExportifyNushellSkipsInvalidNames(t *testing.T) {
 	got := exportifyNushell(io.Discard, map[string]string{
 		"GOOD": "value",