diff --git a/bob/devtools/ci.py b/bob/devtools/ci.py
index 7573de9b687e5c0fcf1773d47cfbe5f0ac16f716..dd6489de8f50e8f7bb2ac8c96176fab6f0be8e93 100644
--- a/bob/devtools/ci.py
+++ b/bob/devtools/ci.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import git
 import distutils.version
 
 from .log import get_logger
+from .build import load_order_file
 
 logger = get_logger(__name__)
 
@@ -79,22 +80,14 @@ def is_stable(package, refname, tag, repodir):
     return False
 
 
-def comment_cleanup(lines):
-    """Cleans-up comments and empty lines from textual data read from files"""
-
-    no_comments = [k.partition("#")[0].strip() for k in lines]
-    return [k for k in no_comments if k]
-
-
 def read_packages(filename):
     """
   Return a python list of tuples (repository, branch), given a file containing
   one package (and branch) per line.  Comments are excluded
 
   """
-    # loads dirnames from order file (accepts # comments and empty lines)
-    with open(filename, "rt") as f:
-        lines = comment_cleanup(f.readlines())
+
+    lines = load_order_file(filename)
 
     packages = []
     for line in lines:
diff --git a/bob/devtools/scripts/ci.py b/bob/devtools/scripts/ci.py
index 78238d101fe6cd920f36a947e2ddacbd3b95aaf0..8d35b3dbd8f72b81638d6e464dd6832b86def2aa 100644
--- a/bob/devtools/scripts/ci.py
+++ b/bob/devtools/scripts/ci.py
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ from click_plugins import with_plugins
 from . import bdt
 from ..constants import SERVER, WEBDAV_PATHS, BASE_CONDARC
 from ..deploy import deploy_conda_package, deploy_documentation
+from ..build import comment_cleanup, load_order_file
 from ..ci import (
     read_packages,
-    comment_cleanup,
     uniq,
     select_conda_build_config,
     select_conda_recipe_append,
@@ -403,13 +403,7 @@ def base_build(order, group, python, dry_run):
         os.environ["CONDA_ROOT"], "conda-bld"
     )
 
-    # loads dirnames from order file (accepts # comments and empty lines)
-    recipes = []
-    with open(order, "rt") as f:
-        for line in f:
-            line = line.partition("#")[0].strip()
-            if line:
-                recipes.append(line)
+    recipes = load_order_file(order)
 
     import itertools
     from .. import bootstrap
@@ -421,12 +415,12 @@ def base_build(order, group, python, dry_run):
     else:
         recipes = list(itertools.product([None], recipes))
 
-    for order, (pyver, recipe) in enumerate(recipes):
+    for k, (pyver, recipe) in enumerate(recipes):
         echo_normal("\n" + (80 * "="))
         pytext = "for python-%s " % pyver if pyver is not None else ""
         echo_normal(
             'Building "%s" %s(%d/%d)'
-            % (recipe, pytext, order + 1, len(recipes))
+            % (recipe, pytext, k + 1, len(recipes))
         )
         echo_normal((80 * "=") + "\n")
         if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(recipe, "meta.yaml")):