We sat down with Carlos Soriano, the main contributor of Nautilus in 3.20, to learn more about the man behind the project.
Where are you from and where are you based now?
I’m from Spain. I grew up in a city called Girona in Catalonia. Now I’m living in Brno, in Czech Republic.
How long have you been contributing to GNOME?
Three and a half years.
How and why did you get started at GNOME?
During the second or third year of university I joined a computer graphics research group and discovered the Linux world. I knew I wanted to gain practical knowledge, and when I saw Allan Day’s mock ups for GNOME shell, I knew that was what I wanted to do. I was really excited about it! I started reading the GNOME Wiki, and it took me about two weeks to get up and running.
A lot of hard work has gone into Nautilus for 3.20; what is your favorite feature?
The search! We have provided some new tools and interface, and almost everything we did revolves around the search. It’s the biggest work we did on 3.20.
What about Nautilus are you most excited about? Do you have any ideas on where it will go from here?
I joined Nautilus one and a half years ago. My dream goal was to rework the views. The icon view’s code is 16 years old, so it holds us back with everything. It makes it difficult to have the capabilities that phones and web have, like adjusting the number of items shown or the spacing between them. Also, we can’t use GTK inside icon view, so we cannot add any smart visuals, widgets, or animations. We’re set back because of the code, and need to redo all of it. It’ll take a lot of time, so as to implement new features, but it will be worth the effort, and we will likely have icon view for the file chooser as well. Making progress towards this goal is what makes me most excited.
How many contributors have been involved this release?
2 with GNOME. I have been the main contributor, along with Georges, my GSoC student. And around 10 people helped with random patches, including developers from distros and also newcomers.
We see you’re again a mentor for this year’s round of GSoC. How has mentorship factored into your own life and career?
I have always liked to teach. I started teaching IT to children in a school, and I would also teach a bit of math, physics, and other similar subjects. Whenever I have the opportunity to be a mentor, that’s the first thing I want to do. Because I love to teach. Last summer I had a really great student named Georges Estravacas, and we created a great relationship. Not only my student learns, but I also learn how to teach and how to make people happy about contributing to GNOME. It’s something that helps both the student and me to make progress.
And now to switch gears and ask you some silly questions…
What is your favorite color?
Azul marino! (navy blue)
Favorite food?
I went vegan 4 months ago. It was sushi before, but now I would say vegan burgers.
What is your spirit animal?
Dog! They’re always cheerful, they have a great attitude, and they always try to cheer everyone up.
Finally, and this one is important; what do you think cats dream about?
I think they’re always conspiring to take over the world!
Thanks to Carlos for answering our questions during such a busy time of the release cycle. We can’t wait to see what he and the rest of the Nautilus team have in store for us next!
Many thanks for your hard work Mr. Carlos. Nautilus is a great and responsive software.
Nice to do an interview! Is it going to be a series, to interview various GNOME contributors?
But to be honest, instead of talking about the favorite color and dogs and cats, it would be better IMHO to ask questions like “what advice would you give to newcomers?”.
Thanks, swilmet. We want to keep some silly questions in our interviews, and suggestions for additional questions you’d like us to ask, like the one you’ve provided, are very welcome. Thank you!