diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index bce786fd5bd0abdf994f89057e1342e38b169f4d..31bdf4cb8c73f573c1f1e8c45f031b6fa1b10399 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@
   <target name="compile" depends="init">
     <echo message="Compiling..."/>
     <property name="javacargs" value="-deprecation" />
+    <mkdir dir="classes"/>
     <javac deprecation="yes" nowarn="no" verbose="no" srcdir="src" destdir="classes">
       <compilerarg value="${javacargs}"/>
       <classpath refid="classpath"/>