BuildOrdner

BuildOrdner is a generic term used in software development to denote the folder where a project’s build system stores generated artifacts, intermediate files, and caches during compilation and packaging. The name combines the English word Build with the German Ordner (folder), reflecting its usage in multilingual development contexts. In practice, the concrete folder name and location vary by project and tool; common equivalents include build/, bin/, or target/.

The primary purpose of a BuildOrdner is to separate sources from outputs, enabling cleaner source trees, reproducible builds, and easier cleanup. It also serves as a workspace for incremental build processes, caching, and logging. Because the contents are generated, the folder is typically not tracked by version control and is usually omitted with ignore rules in systems like Git.

Contents of a BuildOrdner can include object files, compiled binaries, libraries, intermediate files, platform-specific artifacts, log files, and local cache data. In large or multi-module projects, there may be a hierarchy of subfolders to organize outputs by module, target platform, or build flavor.

Management practices commonly treat the BuildOrdner as disposable and transient. It is often created and refreshed by the build system, and a clean operation or a CI step can purge it. Developers are advised not to rely on persistent state inside the folder, and to configure build caches and artifact repositories separately when needed.

See also: build system, continuous integration, version control, artifact management.