Working with OpenSCAD for a few weeks, I quickly wished there was an easy dependency manager. None of the options appealed to me, so I made my own. It could actually be used with most any language, really, and is basically just a script that invokes Git to clone dependencies into a folder in your home directory, then creates a link to said folder. Behold get_deps.sh:
#!/bin/sh
# OpenSCAD dependency management through Git.
# Probably works for other things, too.
# Edit dependencies, run, then in your scads do e.g.:
# use <deps.link/BOSL/joiners.scad>
# MIT License; do what you want. -Erhannis
LOCAL=deps.link
REMOTE=~/.scad_deps/
while getopts hl:r: option
do
case "${option}"
in
h) echo $'./get_deps.sh [-h] [-l LOCAL=deps.link] [-r REMOTE=~/.scad_deps]';;
l) LOCAL=${OPTARG};;
r) REMOTE=${OPTARG};;
esac
done
# Setup
if [ ! -e "$LOCAL" ]; then
mkdir -p "$REMOTE"
ln -s "$REMOTE" "$LOCAL"
fi
#TODO Should recursively fetch dependencies
#TODO Should MAYBE update dependencies
# Dependencies
cd "$REMOTE"
git clone https://github.com/revarbat/BOSL
Just add any other dependencies at the bottom, and in your scad files, do e.g.
use <deps.link/BOSL/nema_steppers.scad>
It’s worked quite well for me, so far, (aside from usually having to convert Thingiverse libraries into Github repos), though I expect a larger, longer term, or more complicated project would need features the script doesn’t currently offer. Better than a poke in the eye, at least, and I’m pleased with its simplicity.
Oh, do note that it’s a Linux script. You could make an equivalent Windows batch file. I haven’t.
Highly Questionable Ideas 