Bash is known for being a quirky language, mainly used to glue different programs together in small scripts. As a result of this perception (and partly due to a lack of language features), Bash has a weak library ecosystem. All things considered, this makes it difficult to find and integrate Bash code that is both robust and devoid of platform-specific hacks.

I wish to solve this predicament by proposing a Bash package manager called Basalt. It standardizes and substantially simplifies the problem of code reuse across Bash projects. Basalt is defining what it means to create a “Bash library” and a “Bash application”; it is also enabling the emergence of cutting-edge Bash libraries, such as complete TOML parsers.