diff --git a/source/dub/commandline.d b/source/dub/commandline.d
index 6571982..6599651 100644
--- a/source/dub/commandline.d
+++ b/source/dub/commandline.d
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 import dub.platform : determineCompiler;
 import dub.project;
 import dub.internal.utils : getDUBVersion, getClosestMatch;
-import dub.version_;
 
 import std.algorithm;
 import std.array;
@@ -357,7 +356,7 @@
 		string m_buildType;
 		BuildMode m_buildMode;
 		string m_buildConfig;
-		string m_compilerName = initialCompilerBinary;
+		string m_compilerName;
 		string m_arch;
 		string[] m_debugVersions;
 		Compiler m_compiler;
@@ -368,6 +367,11 @@
 		bool m_forceRemove = false;
 	}
 
+	this()
+	{
+		m_compilerName = defaultCompiler();
+	}
+
 	override void prepare(scope CommandArgs args)
 	{
 		args.getopt("b|build", &m_buildType, [
@@ -382,7 +386,7 @@
 			"Specifies the compiler binary to use (can be a path).",
 			"Arbitrary pre- and suffixes to the identifiers below are recognized (e.g. ldc2 or dmd-2.063) and matched to the proper compiler type:",
 			"  "~["dmd", "gdc", "ldc", "gdmd", "ldmd"].join(", "),
-			"Default value: "~initialCompilerBinary,
+			"Default value: "~m_compilerName,
 		]);
 		args.getopt("a|arch", &m_arch, [
 			"Force a different architecture (e.g. x86 or x86_64)"
diff --git a/source/dub/compilers/compiler.d b/source/dub/compilers/compiler.d
index dafa331..7cab029 100644
--- a/source/dub/compilers/compiler.d
+++ b/source/dub/compilers/compiler.d
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 import dub.compilers.dmd;
 import dub.compilers.gdc;
 import dub.compilers.ldc;
+import dub.internal.vibecompat.core.file;
 import dub.internal.vibecompat.core.log;
 import dub.internal.vibecompat.data.json;
 import dub.internal.vibecompat.inet.path;
@@ -30,7 +31,6 @@
 	registerCompiler(new LdcCompiler);
 }
 
-
 Compiler getCompiler(string name)
 {
 	foreach (c; s_compilers)
@@ -45,6 +45,26 @@
 	throw new Exception("Unknown compiler: "~name);
 }
 
+string defaultCompiler()
+{
+	static string name;
+	if (!name.length) name = findCompiler();
+	return name;
+}
+
+private string findCompiler()
+{
+	import std.process : env=environment;
+	import dub.version_ : initialCompilerBinary;
+	version (Windows) enum sep = ";", exe = ".exe";
+	version (Posix) enum sep = ":", exe = "";
+
+	auto paths = env.get("PATH", "").splitter(sep).map!Path;
+	auto res = [initialCompilerBinary, "dmd", "gdc", "gdmd", "ldc2", "ldmd2"]
+		.find!(bin => paths.canFind!(p => existsFile(p ~ (bin~exe))));
+	return res.empty ? initialCompilerBinary : res.front;
+}
+
 void registerCompiler(Compiler c)
 {
 	s_compilers ~= c;
@@ -388,7 +408,7 @@
 		pragma(msg, `    ` ~ determineArchitecture());
 		pragma(msg, `   ],`);
 		pragma(msg, `}`);
-		
+
 		string determinePlatform()
 		{
 			string ret;