[beefbroccoli]

I revisit these tools every so often and I still don't understand how they're any better than simple shell scripts.

[noinsight]

There's nothing simple about shell scripts. Idempotency is the main thing - and a great thing.

[beefbroccoli]

People talk about idempotency, as if it's complicated because it's a 5 syllable word.

  if ! which sometool; then
    install sometool
  fi

That's an idempotent shell script, in all it's simple glory.