Consider using tools to streamline source install: vcstool, catkin, etc.

[jackieokay]

vcstool is a handy command line tool for managing a set of repositories managed by Github, Mercurial, etc.

catkin is used in the ROS community for building a workspace of packages with CMake. It's quite nice to be able to build the entire workspace with one command, and I imagine catkin could make the process of building and re-building the Reveal workspace easier.