>This tool looks like "submodules, but lighter", while repo is "submodules, but heavier". Looks to me like the motivation is for dependencies that are not hard

>This tool looks like "submodules, but lighter", while repo is "submodules, but heavier". Looks to me like the motivation is for dependencies that are not hard enough to justify a submodule. I think you nailed how I was feeling in much fewer words!