[Contributed].

With the code below, you can make a standalone executable zip file that contains all of IPython. The code as written is made for 0.10, but it's easy enough to adapt (we'll likely include it in IPython proper as a utility). If you update the library layout for the post-0.10 refactoring, please post an updated version below.

## Author:  Lisandro Dalcin
## Contact: dalcinl@gmail.com

import sys, os
import glob
from zipfile import ZipFile
from zipfile import ZIP_STORED
from zipfile import ZIP_DEFLATED
try:
    import zlib
except ImportError:
    zlib = None

origin = 'IPython'

includes = [
'IPython/*.py',
'IPython/config/*.py',
'IPython/Extensions/*.py',
'IPython/external/*.py',
'IPython/frontend/*.py',
'IPython/frontend/*/*.py',
'IPython/gui/*.py',
'IPython/gui/*/*.py',
'IPython/kernel/*.py',
'IPython/kernel/*/*.py',
'IPython/testing/*.py',
'IPython/testing/*/*.py',
'IPython/tools/*.py',
'IPython/UserConfig/*.py',
]

target = 'ipython.zip'

header = """\
#!/bin/sh
exec python -c "
import sys, os
sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('$0'))
import IPython.Shell
IPython.Shell.start().mainloop()
" $@
"""

header_win = '\r\n'.join("""\
@echo off
setlocal
set _cmd=%_cmd%import sys, os;
set _cmd=%_cmd%sys.path.insert(0,os.path.abspath('%0'));
set _cmd=%_cmd%import IPython.Shell;
set _cmd=%_cmd%IPython.Shell.start().mainloop();
python.exe -c "%_cmd%" %*
goto :eof
""".split('\n'))

if 'win' in sys.platform:
    target = os.path.splitext(target)[0]+'.bat'
    header = header_win

script = ("ipython.py", """\
#!/usr/bin/env python
import IPython.Shell
IPython.Shell.start().mainloop()
""")

try:
    prefix = sys.argv[1]
    prefix = os.path.expanduser(prefix)
    prefix = os.path.normpath(prefix)
except IndexError:
    package = __import__(origin)
    pkgroot = os.path.dirname(package.__file__)
    prefix = os.path.dirname(pkgroot)
assert os.path.isdir(prefix)

filelist = []
for pattern in includes:
    files = glob.glob(os.path.join(prefix, pattern))
    filelist += sorted(files, key=str.lower)
assert filelist

# white shell-script header
fobj = open(target, 'wb')
fobj.write(header.encode('ascii'))
fobj.close()

# add files to the ZIP archive
if zlib is not None:
    compression = ZIP_DEFLATED
else:
    compression = ZIP_STORED
fobj = ZipFile(target, 'a', compression)
fobj.writestr(script[0], script[1])
for filename in filelist:
    arcname = filename[len(prefix)+1:]
    fobj.write(filename, arcname)
fobj.close()

# make the ZIP file executable
try:
    try:
        mode = eval('0o755')
    except SyntaxError:
        mode = eval('0755')
    os.chmod(target, mode)
except:
    pass