diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 95d95ca1158a..aa7fd2164774 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -30,3 +30,8 @@ classes/
 tests/partest-generated/
 tests/locks/
 /test-classes/
+
+
+# Ignore output files but keep the directory
+out/
+!out/.keep
diff --git a/test/dotc/build.scala b/test/dotc/build.scala
index 9f47796c3fe2..2963b8f1e9c1 100644
--- a/test/dotc/build.scala
+++ b/test/dotc/build.scala
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ object build extends tests {
   def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
     println("------------  Building dotty  ------------")
     deleteFilesInFolder(new File(defaultOutputDir)) // clear previous output
+    val keepFile = new File(defaultOutputDir + ".keep")
+    keepFile.createNewFile()
     dotty // build output dir
     val p = Runtime.getRuntime.exec(Array("jar", "cf", "dotty.jar", "-C", "out", "."))
     p.waitFor()