diff --git a/IPython/utils/submodule.py b/IPython/utils/submodule.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..144678c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/IPython/utils/submodule.py
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+"""utilities for checking submodule status"""
+
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+#  Copyright (C) 2013  The IPython Development Team
+#
+#  Distributed under the terms of the BSD License.  The full license is in
+#  the file COPYING, distributed as part of this software.
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Imports
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Globals
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+pjoin = os.path.join
+
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Code
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def ipython_parent():
+    """return IPython's parent (i.e. root if run from git)"""
+    from IPython.utils.path import get_ipython_package_dir
+    return os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(get_ipython_package_dir()))
+
+def ipython_submodules(root):
+    """return IPython submodules relative to root"""
+    return [
+        pjoin(root, 'IPython', 'frontend', 'html', 'notebook', 'static', 'components'),
+    ]
+
+def is_repo(d):
+    """is d a git repo?"""
+    return os.path.exists(pjoin(d, '.git'))
+
+def check_submodule_status(root=None):
+    """check submodule status
+
+    Has three return values:
+
+    'missing' - submodules are absent
+    'unclean' - submodules have unstaged changes
+    'clean' - all submodules are up to date
+    """
+
+    if hasattr(sys, "frozen"):
+      # frozen via py2exe or similar, don't bother
+      return 'clean'
+
+    if not root:
+        root = ipython_parent()
+
+    submodules = ipython_submodules(root)
+
+    for submodule in submodules:
+        if not os.path.exists(submodule):
+            return 'missing'
+
+    if not is_repo(root):
+        # not in git, assume clean
+        return 'clean'
+
+    # check with git submodule status
+    proc = subprocess.Popen('git submodule status',
+                            stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                            stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+                            shell=True,
+                            cwd=root,
+    )
+    status, _ = proc.communicate()
+    status = status.decode("ascii")
+
+    for line in status.splitlines():
+        if status.startswith('-'):
+            return 'missing'
+        elif status.startswith('+'):
+            return 'unclean'
+
+    return 'clean'
+
+def update_submodules(repo_dir):
+    """update submodules in a repo"""
+    subprocess.Popen("git submodule init", cwd=repo_dir, shell=True)
+    subprocess.Popen("git submodule update", cwd=repo_dir, shell=True)
+