> i'd like to create an executable for windows - and i
> understand rubyscript2exe can do exactly that. however, i
> also understand that the program user would still have to
> have ruby installed on their computer, in addition to the the
> executable i would create.

If the author of RubyScript2Exe says that it can be used to
create standalone applications ("...for it collects all
necessary files to run your script on an other machine: the
Ruby script, the Ruby interpreter and the Ruby runtime
library..."), how can you understand the opposite? He's even
made a nice diagram [1]!

Maybe the author wasn't explicit enough. If he wasn't, just let
him know. He is used to receive mails from people asking things
which he already explained on his site. He probably doesn't
explain things very well... ;]

> can i somehow combine these two to get a truly standalone
> application?

Yes, you can:

 c:\> ruby allinoneruby.rb
 c:\> allinoneruby rubyscript2exe.rb test.rb

(Just to be clear: this is just a joke... Just to be clear: the
second part is a joke, the first one was dead serious...)

gegroet,
Erik V. - http://www.erikveen.dds.nl/

 [1]
http://www.erikveen.dds.nl/distributingrubyapplications/index.html#1.0.0