diff --git a/fetch-3rd-party.sh b/fetch-3rd-party.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..e0a6b40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fetch-3rd-party.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+#!/bin/bash -e
+
+::() {
+	echo ":: $*" >&2
+	"$@"
+}
+
+# usage: fetch <name> <git repo> [<bin symlinks> ...]
+fetch() {
+	dir="$HOME/misc/$1"
+	if [ -d "$dir" ]; then
+		# try to pull changes from repository without merging
+		:: git --git-dir="$dir/.git" --work-tree="$dir" pull --ff-only
+	else
+		# clone repository if it does not exist yet
+		:: git clone "$2" "$dir"
+	fi
+	shift
+	shift
+	# symlink all following filenames into $HOME/bin if existent
+	while x="$1"; shift; do
+		file=$(:: find "$dir" -name "$x" | head -n 1)
+		if [ -z "$file" ]; then
+			echo "Missing file: $x"
+		else
+			target="${file##*/}"
+			target="${target%.py}"
+			:: ln -sf "$file" "$HOME/bin/$target"
+		fi
+	done
+}
+
+
+fetch barpyrus https://github.com/t-wissmann/barpyrus.git
+fetch i3lock-fancy https://github.com/meskarune/i3lock-fancy.git lock
+fetch siji https://github.com/stark/siji
+:: sh -c 'cd $HOME/misc/siji && ./install.sh -d "$HOME/.fonts"'
diff --git a/installExternal.sh b/installExternal.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index c0c7a70..0000000
--- a/installExternal.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-#! /bin/bash
-mkdir ~/misc
-cd ~/misc
-
-git clone https://github.com/t-wissmann/barpyrus.git