diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c8cd8d26..c5338832 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ copyparty.egg-info/
 buildenv/
 build/
 dist/
+sfx/
 .venv/
 
 # sublime
diff --git a/scripts/make-tgz-release.sh b/scripts/make-tgz-release.sh
index 78375eba..17c8a5ff 100755
--- a/scripts/make-tgz-release.sh
+++ b/scripts/make-tgz-release.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 set -e
 echo
 
+tar=$( which gtar  2>/dev/null || which tar)
 sed=$( which gsed  2>/dev/null || which sed)
 find=$(which gfind 2>/dev/null || which find)
 sort=$(which gsort 2>/dev/null || which sort)
@@ -22,14 +23,14 @@ ver="$1"
 [[ -e copyparty/__main__.py ]] || cd ..
 [[ -e copyparty/__main__.py ]] ||
 {
-	echo "run me from within the copyparty folder"
+	echo "run me from within the project root folder"
 	echo
 	exit 1
 }
 
-out_dir="$(pwd | $sed -r 's@/[^/]+$@@')"
-zip_path="$out_dir/copyparty-$ver.zip"
-tgz_path="$out_dir/copyparty-$ver.tar.gz"
+mkdir -p dist
+zip_path="dist/copyparty-$ver.zip"
+tgz_path="dist/copyparty-$ver.tar.gz"
 
 [[ -e "$zip_path" ]] ||
 [[ -e "$tgz_path" ]] &&
@@ -50,9 +51,11 @@ tmp="$(mktemp -d)"
 rls_dir="$tmp/copyparty-$ver"
 mkdir "$rls_dir"
 
-echo ">>> export"
-git archive master |
-tar -x -C "$rls_dir"
+echo ">>> export from git"
+git archive master | $tar -xC "$rls_dir"
+
+echo ">>> export untracked deps"
+$tar -c copyparty/web/deps | $tar -xC "$rls_dir"
 
 cd "$rls_dir"
 $find -type d -exec chmod 755 '{}' \+
@@ -60,7 +63,7 @@ $find -type f -exec chmod 644 '{}' \+
 
 commaver="$(
 	printf '%s\n' "$ver" |
-	sed -r 's/\./,/g'
+	sed -r 's/\./, /g'
 )"
 
 grep -qE "^VERSION *= \(${commaver}\)$" copyparty/__version__.py ||
@@ -93,8 +96,8 @@ $sed -r 's/^(.{32}) \./\1  ./' > ../.sums.md5
 mv ../.sums.md5 .
 
 cd ..
-echo ">>> tar"; tar -czf "$tgz_path" "copyparty-$ver"
-echo ">>> zip"; zip -qr  "$zip_path" "copyparty-$ver"
+echo ">>> tar"; $tar -czf "$tgz_path" "copyparty-$ver"
+echo ">>> zip"; zip  -qr  "$zip_path" "copyparty-$ver"
 
 rm -rf "$tmp"
 echo
diff --git a/scripts/make-unix-sfx.sh b/scripts/make-unix-sfx.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7926fea2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/make-unix-sfx.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -e
+echo
+
+# clean=1 to export clean files from git;
+# will use current working tree otherwise
+clean=1
+clean=
+
+tar=$( which gtar  2>/dev/null || which tar)
+sed=$( which gsed  2>/dev/null || which sed)
+find=$(which gfind 2>/dev/null || which find)
+sort=$(which gsort 2>/dev/null || which sort)
+
+which md5sum 2>/dev/null >/dev/null &&
+	md5sum=md5sum ||
+	md5sum="md5 -r"
+
+[[ -e copyparty/__main__.py ]] || cd ..
+[[ -e copyparty/__main__.py ]] ||
+{
+	echo "run me from within the project root folder"
+	echo
+	exit 1
+}
+
+rm -rf sfx
+mkdir sfx
+cd sfx
+
+f=~/Downloads/Jinja2-2.6.tar.gz
+[ -e "$f" ] ||
+	(cd ~/Downloads && wget https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/25/c8/212b1c2fd6df9eaf536384b6c6619c4e70a3afd2dffdd00e5296ffbae940/Jinja2-2.6.tar.gz)
+
+tar -xf $f
+mv Jinja2-*/jinja2 .
+rm -rf Jinja2-*
+
+[ $clean ] && {
+	(cd .. && git archive master) | tar -x copyparty
+	(cd .. && tar -c copyparty/web/deps) | tar -x
+}
+[ $clean ] ||
+	(cd .. && tar -c copyparty) | tar -x
+
+ver="$(awk '/^VERSION *= \(/ {
+	gsub(/[^0-9,]/,""); gsub(/,/,"."); print; exit}' < ../copyparty/__version__.py)"
+
+ts=$(date -u +%s)
+hts=$(date -u +%Y-%m%d-%H%M%S) # --date=@$ts (thx osx)
+echo h > v$ts
+
+mkdir -p ../dist
+sfx_out=../dist/copyparty-$ver.sfx
+
+sed "s/PACK_TS/$ts/; s/PACK_HTS/$hts/; s/CPP_VER/$ver/" >$sfx_out <<'EOF'
+#!/bin/bash
+set -e
+
+dir="$(
+	printf '%s\n' "$TMPDIR" /tmp |
+	awk '/./ {print; exit}'
+)/pe-copyparty"
+
+py="$(command -v python3)" ||
+py="$(command -v python)"  ||
+py="$(command -v python2)" || {
+	printf '\033[1;31mpls install python\033[0m\n' >&2
+	exit 1
+}
+
+[ -e "$dir/vPACK_TS" ] || (
+	printf '\033[36munpacking copyparty vCPP_VER (sfx-PACK_HTS)\033[1;30m\n\n'
+	mkdir -p "$dir.$$"
+	ofs=$(awk '$0=="sfx_eof" {print NR+1; exit}' < "$0")
+	
+	[ -z "$ofs" ] && {
+		printf '\033[31mabort: could not find SFX boundary\033[0m\n'
+		exit 1
+	}
+	tail -n +$ofs "$0" | tar -JxC "$dir.$$"
+	ln -nsf "$dir.$$" "$dir"
+	printf '\033[0m'
+	
+	now=$(date -u +%s)
+	for d in "$dir".*; do
+		ts=$(stat -c%Y -- "$d")
+		[ $((now-ts)) -gt 300 ] &&
+			rm -rf "$d"
+	done
+
+	# delete the bundled jinja2 if we have a better one
+	python3 -c 'import jinja2' 2>/dev/null &&
+		rm -rf $dir/jinja2
+	true
+) >&2 || exit 1
+
+PYTHONPATH=$dir exec "$py" -m copyparty "$@"
+
+sfx_eof
+EOF
+
+echo "compressing..."
+tar -c copyparty jinja2 v$ts | xz -cze9T0 >> $sfx_out
+chmod 755 $sfx_out
+
+printf "done:\n  %s\n" "$(realpath $sfx_out)"
+cd ..
+rm -rf sfx