A method for building an application installation repository is disclosed herein. In one embodiment a build directory comprising a plurality of application objects is evaluated. Artifact generation rules may also be evaluated with respect to the application objects and the build directory. Object groupings, each comprising one or more application objects of the plurality of application objects, are defined according to the evaluations of the artifact generation rules and the hierarchical directory structure and artifacts are generated according to the object groupings. An installable application is generated that includes the generated artifacts. Artifacts may be further grouped into sharable units and assemblies according to rules and organization of application objects in the build directory. A delta build including only artifacts corresponding to modified files and correspondingly modified metadata may also be generated according to methods disclosed herein. A corresponding computer program product is also disclosed.