What’s the reccomended C++ package manager and build chain to use with Unreal projects?
I’m speaking about a dependency manager and associated tools like javascript/node has npm, java has maven/gradle, c++ has cpm/conan, but I’m unsure what to use in the unreal ecosystem.
This is not Javascript or PHP. If that’s how I am interpreting your question. Here’s the link to what UE4 uses though:
So there’s no tool to include 3rd party code, controlling versions of libraries and build them? You have to do it manually?
I know C++ as a language has biicode and cpm to name 2 systems, but I don’t know if there’s a reccomended alternative for Unreal. Sounds like unreal has no consistent way to link releases to built code and that’s a bad thing.
Maybe I just ignorant on what you’re talking about, or just don’t understand. But I can assure you that whatever Unreal is doing is not a bad thing 
It’s been working for a few years now. I do know that people do make their own build/package systems for Unreal on the side. As far as a “consistent way to link releases to built code”, I am assuming you are not talking about source control and git. So, sorry for my ignorance.
No problem at all. “linking releases to built code” means that you know, for every built artifact, which versions of every dependency were used on building it (something very complex if you had to compile dependencies a, b, c, import them manually in your build path and build your release). Basically it helps maintain sanity and helps bug tracking a lot.
We don’t use dependency management software for the engine internally because we use almost 0 external software. For our backend projects we use maven/gradle whatever. Because we don’t use this ourselves, it’s up to you to pick your tools of choice and create support for.