diff --git a/doc/variables.txt b/doc/variables.txt
index 49902f65..135b2ab0 100644
--- a/doc/variables.txt
+++ b/doc/variables.txt
@@ -89,6 +89,12 @@
     - fast: gzip/lzo (быстрее запаковывается и распаковывается, меньше степень)
   + см. ../features.in/stage2/stage1/scripts.d/03-test-kernel
 
+- SORTDIR
+  + дополнительно структурирует каталог собранных образов
+  + значение: пусто (по умолчанию) либо строка
+    - например, '$(IMAGE_NAME)/$(DATE)'
+  + см. ../image.in/Makefile
+
 пример
 ~~~~~~
 make DEBUG=1 CLEAN=1 distro/syslinux.iso
diff --git a/image.in/Makefile b/image.in/Makefile
index 52ba326d..be68ddf2 100644
--- a/image.in/Makefile
+++ b/image.in/Makefile
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ MKI_VER_OPTIMAL = 0.2.0
 include distcfg.mk
 include functions.mk
 
+# check the build environment
 ifeq (,$(realpath $(MKIMAGE_PREFIX)/config.mk))
 $(error please apt-get install mkimage and have a look at QUICKSTART as well)
 endif
@@ -26,9 +27,19 @@ $(info warning: mkimage-$(MKI_VERSION) is suboptimal, consider upgrading)
 $(warning consider upgrading mkimage to $(MKI_VER_OPTIMAL) or better)
 endif
 
+# additional means to reduce havoc in IMAGEDIR
+IMAGE_SORTDIR := $(SORTDIR)
+
 # reconstruct instead of passing yet another variable
-IMAGE_LINK := $(IMAGE_NAME).$(IMAGE_TYPE)
-IMAGE_OUTFILE := $(IMAGE_NAME)-$(DATE)-$(ARCH).$(IMAGE_TYPE)
+IMAGE_OUTDIR   := $(IMAGEDIR)$(IMAGE_SORTDIR:%=/%)
+IMAGE_OUTFILE  := $(IMAGE_NAME)-$(DATE)-$(ARCH).$(IMAGE_TYPE)
+IMAGE_OUTPATH  := $(IMAGE_OUTDIR)/$(IMAGE_OUTFILE)
+IMAGE_RELPATH  := $(IMAGE_SORTDIR:%=%/)$(IMAGE_OUTFILE)
+IMAGE_RELDIR   := $(IMAGE_OUTDIR:$(GLOBAL_BUILDDIR)/%=%)
+IMAGE_LINK     := $(IMAGE_NAME).$(IMAGE_TYPE)
+IMAGE_LINKPATH := $(IMAGEDIR)/$(IMAGE_LINK)
+
+### multi-pack can be useful (think netinst iso/tree)
 MKI_PACK_RESULTS = $(IMAGE_PACKTYPE):$(IMAGE_OUTFILE)
 
 # these get opied over as is
@@ -44,7 +55,7 @@ include lib/*.mk
 include $(MKIMAGE_PREFIX)/targets.mk
 
 # specified only for the final image (target-specific)
-pack-image: OUTDIR = $(IMAGEDIR)
+pack-image: OUTDIR = $(IMAGE_OUTDIR)
 pack-image: imagedir
 
 copy-tree: $(SAVE_PROFILE:%=save-profile)
@@ -57,18 +68,18 @@ save-profile:
 .PHONY: imagedir postprocess debug
 
 imagedir:
-	@mkdir -p "$(IMAGEDIR)"
+	@mkdir -p "$(IMAGE_OUTDIR)"
 
 postprocess: | $(addprefix postprocess-,$(sort $(POSTPROCESS_TARGETS)))
-	@OUTPATH="$(IMAGEDIR)/$(IMAGE_OUTFILE)"; \
-	OUTSIZE="`ls -lh "$$OUTPATH" | cut -f5 -d' '`"; \
-	echo "** image: $$OUTPATH [$$OUTSIZE]" >&2 && \
-	ln -sf "$(IMAGE_OUTFILE)" "$(IMAGEDIR)/$(IMAGE_LINK)" && \
-	ln -sf "$${IMAGEDIR#`pwd`/}" "$(OUT_LINK)"; \
-	ln -sf "$(IMAGE_LINK)" $(OUT_LINK)/"$(CURRENT_LINK).$(IMAGE_TYPE)"; \
+	@OUTSIZE="`ls -lh "$(IMAGE_OUTPATH)" | cut -f5 -d' '`"; \
+	echo "** image: $(IMAGE_OUTPATH) [$$OUTSIZE]" >&2 && \
+	echo "IMAGE_OUTPATH = $(IMAGE_OUTPATH)" && \
+	ln -sf "$(IMAGE_RELPATH)" "$(IMAGE_LINKPATH)" && \
+	ln -sf "$(IMAGE_RELDIR)" "$(OUT_LINK)" && \
+	ln -sf "$(IMAGE_LINK)" "$(IMAGEDIR)/$(CURRENT_LINK).$(IMAGE_TYPE)"; \
 	if [ -n "$(GLOBAL_DEBUG)" ]; then \
-		cp -a build.log "$$OUTPATH.log"; \
-		cp -a distcfg.mk "$$OUTPATH.cfg"; \
+		cp -a build.log "$(IMAGE_OUTPATH).log"; \
+		cp -a distcfg.mk "$(IMAGE_OUTPATH).cfg"; \
 	fi
 
 debug:
diff --git a/reports.mk b/reports.mk
index 08c07d6b..227329a4 100644
--- a/reports.mk
+++ b/reports.mk
@@ -2,20 +2,30 @@
 
 ifneq (,$(REPORT))
 
-BUILDDIR := $(shell sed -n 's/^.* BUILDDIR = \(.*\)/\1/p' "$(REPORT_PATH)")
-
 include lib/common.mk
 
+BUILDDIR := $(shell sed -n 's/^.* BUILDDIR = \(.*\)/\1/p' "$(REPORT_PATH)")
+BUILDLOG := $(BUILDDIR)/$(BUILD_LOG)
+REPORTDIR := $(BUILDDIR)/reports/
+IMAGE_OUTPATH := $(shell sed -n 's/^IMAGE_OUTPATH = \(.*\)/\1/p' $(BUILDLOG))
+
+# for a multi-image build there's no sense to refer to buildroot
+# contained reports as these are very ephemeral between builds
+ifneq (1,$(NUM_TARGETS))
+SHORTEN := >/dev/null
+endif
+
 all: reports/targets reports/scripts
+	@cp -a $(REPORTDIR) $(IMAGE_OUTPATH).reports
 
 reports/prep:
-	@mkdir -p "$(BUILDDIR)/reports/"
+	@mkdir -p "$(REPORTDIR)"
 
 reports/scripts: reports/prep
-	@grep "^mki.*scripts: Run: " $(BUILDDIR)/$(BUILD_LOG) \
+	@grep "^mki.*scripts: Run: " $(BUILDLOG) \
 	| sed -rn "s,^.*($(BUILDDIR)|$(SYMLINK))/(.*)'$$,\2,p" \
-	> "$(BUILDDIR)/$@.log" \
-	&& echo "** scripts report: $(BUILDDIR)/$@.log" $(SHORTEN)
+	> "$(REPORTDIR)/$*.log" \
+	&& echo "** scripts report: $(BUILDDIR)/$(@F).log" $(SHORTEN)
 
 reports/targets: reports/prep
 	@if ! [ -n "$(REPORT_PATH)" -a -s "$(REPORT_PATH)" ]; then \
@@ -32,7 +42,7 @@ reports/targets: reports/prep
 		&& echo "** graphviz missing, " \
 			"target graph dot file: $$REPORT_DOT"; \
 	fi $(SHORTEN); \
-	mv "$(REPORT_PATH)" "$(BUILDDIR)/$@.log"
+	mv "$(REPORT_PATH)" "$(REPORTDIR)/$(@F).log"
 
 else
 all:; @: