diff --git a/source/app.d b/source/app.d
index 6d0b761..62faea9 100644
--- a/source/app.d
+++ b/source/app.d
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 */
 module app;
 
+import dub.compilers.compiler;
 import dub.dependency;
 import dub.dub;
 import dub.package_;
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@
 		bool help, nodeps, annotate;
 		LogLevel loglevel = LogLevel.Info;
 		string build_type = "debug", build_config;
+		string compiler_name = "dmd";
 		bool print_platform, print_builds, print_configs;
 		bool install_system = false, install_local = false;
 		string install_version;
@@ -57,6 +59,7 @@
 			"nodeps", &nodeps,
 			"annotate", &annotate,
 			"build", &build_type,
+			"compiler", &compiler_name,
 			"config", &build_config,
 			"print-builds", &print_builds,
 			"print-configs", &print_configs,
@@ -136,6 +139,8 @@
 				auto def_config = dub.getDefaultConfiguration(build_platform);
 				if( !build_config.length ) build_config = def_config;
 
+				auto compiler = getCompiler(compiler_name);
+
 				if( print_builds ){
 					logInfo("Available build types:");
 					foreach( tp; ["debug", "release", "unittest", "profile"] )
@@ -168,7 +173,7 @@
 				// Create start script, which will be used by the calling bash/cmd script.
 				// build "rdmd --force %DFLAGS% -I%~dp0..\source -Jviews -Isource @deps.txt %LIBS% source\app.d" ~ application arguments
 				// or with "/" instead of "\"
-				string[] flags = ["--force", "--build-only"];
+				string[] flags = ["--force", "--build-only", "--compiler="~compiler_name];
 				Path run_exe_file;
 				if( cmd == "build" ){
 					flags ~= "-of"~(dub.binaryPath~outfile).toNativeString();
@@ -189,29 +194,8 @@
 				settings.addDFlags(["-w", "-property"]);
 				settings.addVersions(getPackagesAsVersion(dub));
 
-				// TODO: this belongs to the builder/generator
-				if( settings.libs.length ){
-					try {
-						logDebug("Trying to use pkg-config to resolve library flags for %s.", settings.libs);
-						auto libflags = execute("pkg-config", "--libs" ~ settings.libs.map!(l => "lib"~l)().array());
-						enforce(libflags.status == 0, "pkg-config exited with error code "~to!string(libflags.status));
-						settings.addLFlags(libflags.output.split());
-						settings.libs = null;
-					} catch( Exception e ){
-						logDebug("pkg-config failed: %s", e.msg);
-						logDebug("Falling back to direct -lxyz flags.");
-						version(Windows) settings.addDFlags(settings.libs.map!(l => l~".lib")().array());
-						else settings.addLFlags(settings.libs.map!(l => "-l"~l)().array());
-						settings.libs = null;
-					}
-				}
-
+				compiler.prepareBuildSettings(settings, BuildSetting.commandLine);
 				flags ~= settings.dflags;
-				flags ~= settings.lflags.map!(f => "-L"~f)().array();
-				flags ~= settings.importPaths.map!(f => "-I"~f)().array();
-				flags ~= settings.stringImportPaths.map!(f => "-J"~f)().array();
-				flags ~= settings.versions.map!(f => "-version="~f)().array();
-				flags ~= settings.files;
 				flags ~= (mainsrc).toNativeString();
 
 				string dflags = environment.get("DFLAGS");
@@ -356,6 +340,8 @@
                          plain
         --config=NAME    Builds the specified configuration. Configurations can
                          be defined in package.json
+        --compiler=NAME  Uses one of the supported compilers:
+                         dmd (default), gcc, ldc
         --nodeps         Do not check dependencies for 'run' or 'build'
         --print-builds   Prints the list of available build types
         --print-configs  Prints the list of available configurations
diff --git a/source/dub/compilers/compiler.d b/source/dub/compilers/compiler.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64420f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/source/dub/compilers/compiler.d
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+/**
+	Compiler settings and abstraction.
+
+	Copyright: © 2013 rejectedsoftware e.K.
+	License: Subject to the terms of the MIT license, as written in the included LICENSE.txt file.
+	Authors: Sönke Ludwig
+*/
+module dub.compilers.compiler;
+
+import dub.compilers.dmd;
+
+import std.array;
+import vibe.data.json;
+
+
+static this()
+{
+	registerCompiler(new DmdCompiler);
+}
+
+
+Compiler getCompiler(string name)
+{
+	foreach( c; s_compilers )
+		if( c.name == name )
+			return c;
+	throw new Exception("Unknown compiler: "~name);
+}
+
+void registerCompiler(Compiler c)
+{
+	s_compilers ~= c;
+}
+
+
+interface Compiler {
+	@property string name() const;
+
+	/// Replaces high level fields with low level fields and converts
+	/// dmd flags to compiler-specific flags
+	void prepareBuildSettings(ref BuildSettings settings, BuildSetting supported_fields = BuildSetting.all);
+}
+
+
+/// BuildPlatform specific settings, like needed libraries or additional
+/// include paths.
+struct BuildSettings {
+	string[] dflags;
+	string[] lflags;
+	string[] libs;
+	string[] files;
+	string[] copyFiles;
+	string[] versions;
+	string[] importPaths;
+	string[] stringImportPaths;
+
+	void parse(in Json root, BuildPlatform platform)
+	{
+		addDFlags(getPlatformField(root, "dflags", platform));
+		addLFlags(getPlatformField(root, "lflags", platform));
+		addLibs(getPlatformField(root, "libs", platform));
+		addFiles(getPlatformField(root, "files", platform));
+		addCopyFiles(getPlatformField(root, "copyFiles", platform));
+		addVersions(getPlatformField(root, "versions", platform));
+		addImportDirs(getPlatformField(root, "importPaths", platform));
+		addStringImportDirs(getPlatformField(root, "stringImportPaths", platform));
+	}
+
+	void addDFlags(string[] value) { add(dflags, value); }
+	void addLFlags(string[] value) { add(lflags, value); }
+	void addLibs(string[] value) { add(libs, value); }
+	void addFiles(string[] value) { add(files, value); }
+	void addCopyFiles(string[] value) { add(copyFiles, value); }
+	void addVersions(string[] value) { add(versions, value); }
+	void addImportDirs(string[] value) { add(importPaths, value); }
+	void addStringImportDirs(string[] value) { add(stringImportPaths, value); }
+
+	// Adds vals to arr without adding duplicates.
+	private void add(ref string[] arr, string[] vals)
+	{
+		foreach( v; vals ){
+			bool found = false;
+			foreach( i; 0 .. arr.length )
+				if( arr[i] == v ){
+					found = true;
+					break;
+				}
+			if( !found ) arr ~= v;
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Parses json and returns the values of the corresponding field 
+	// by the platform.
+	private string[] getPlatformField(in Json json, string name, BuildPlatform platform)
+	const {
+		auto ret = appender!(string[])();
+		foreach( suffix; getPlatformSuffixIterator(platform) ){
+			foreach( j; json[name~suffix].opt!(Json[]) )
+				ret.put(j.get!string);
+		}
+		return ret.data;
+	}
+}
+
+/// Represents a platform a package can be build upon.
+struct BuildPlatform {
+	/// e.g. ["posix", "windows"]
+	string[] platform;
+	/// e.g. ["x86", "x64"]
+	string[] architecture;
+	/// e.g. "dmd"
+	string compiler;
+}
+
+enum BuildSetting {
+	dflags            = 1<<0,
+	lflags            = 1<<1,
+	libs              = 1<<2,
+	files             = 1<<3,
+	copyFiles         = 1<<4,
+	versions          = 1<<5,
+	importPaths       = 1<<6,
+	stringImportPaths = 1<<7,
+	none = 0,
+	commandLine = dflags|copyFiles,
+	commandLineSeparate = commandLine|lflags,
+	all = dflags|lflags|libs|files|copyFiles|versions|importPaths|stringImportPaths
+}
+
+private {
+	Compiler[] s_compilers;
+}
+
+/// Based on the BuildPlatform, creates an iterator with all suffixes.
+///
+/// Suffixes are build upon the following scheme, where each component
+/// is optional (indicated by []), but the order is obligatory.
+/// "[-platform][-architecture][-compiler]"
+///
+/// So the following strings are valid suffixes:
+/// "-windows-x86-dmd"
+/// "-dmd"
+/// "-arm"
+///
+int delegate(scope int delegate(ref string)) getPlatformSuffixIterator(BuildPlatform platform)
+{
+	int iterator(scope int delegate(ref string s) del)
+	{
+		auto c = platform.compiler;
+		int delwrap(string s) { return del(s); }
+		if( auto ret = delwrap(null) ) return ret;
+		if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~c) ) return ret;
+		foreach( p; platform.platform ){
+			if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~p) ) return ret;
+			if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~p~"-"~c) ) return ret;
+			foreach( a; platform.architecture ){
+				if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~p~"-"~a) ) return ret;
+				if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~p~"-"~a~"-"~c) ) return ret;
+			}
+		}
+		foreach( a; platform.architecture ){
+			if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~a) ) return ret;
+			if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~a~"-"~c) ) return ret;
+		}
+		return 0;
+	}
+	return &iterator;
+}
diff --git a/source/dub/compilers/dmd.d b/source/dub/compilers/dmd.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..307b93f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/source/dub/compilers/dmd.d
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/**
+	DMD compiler support.
+
+	Copyright: © 2013 rejectedsoftware e.K.
+	License: Subject to the terms of the MIT license, as written in the included LICENSE.txt file.
+	Authors: Sönke Ludwig
+*/
+module dub.compilers.dmd;
+
+import dub.compilers.compiler;
+
+import std.algorithm;
+import std.array;
+import std.conv;
+import std.exception;
+import stdx.process;
+import vibe.core.log;
+
+
+class DmdCompiler : Compiler {
+	@property string name() const { return "dmd"; }
+
+	void prepareBuildSettings(ref BuildSettings settings, BuildSetting fields = BuildSetting.all)
+	{
+		if( !(fields & BuildSetting.libs) ){
+			try {
+				logDebug("Trying to use pkg-config to resolve library flags for %s.", settings.libs);
+				auto libflags = execute("pkg-config", "--libs" ~ settings.libs.map!(l => "lib"~l)().array());
+				enforce(libflags.status == 0, "pkg-config exited with error code "~to!string(libflags.status));
+				settings.addLFlags(libflags.output.split());
+			} catch( Exception e ){
+				logDebug("pkg-config failed: %s", e.msg);
+				logDebug("Falling back to direct -lxyz flags.");
+				version(Windows) settings.addFiles(settings.libs.map!(l => l~".lib")().array());
+				else settings.addLFlags(settings.libs.map!(l => "-l"~l)().array());
+			}
+			settings.libs = null;
+		}
+
+		if( !(fields & BuildSetting.versions) ){
+			settings.addDFlags(settings.versions.map!(s => "-version="~s)().array());
+			settings.versions = null;
+		}
+
+		if( !(fields & BuildSetting.importPaths) ){
+			settings.addDFlags(settings.importPaths.map!(s => "-I"~s)().array());
+			settings.importPaths = null;
+		}
+
+		if( !(fields & BuildSetting.stringImportPaths) ){
+			settings.addDFlags(settings.stringImportPaths.map!(s => "-J"~s)().array());
+			settings.stringImportPaths = null;
+		}
+
+		if( !(fields & BuildSetting.files) ){
+			settings.addDFlags(settings.files);
+			settings.files = null;
+		}
+
+		if( !(fields & BuildSetting.lflags) ){
+			settings.addDFlags(settings.lflags.map!(f => "-L"~f)().array());
+			settings.lflags = null;
+		}
+
+		assert(fields & BuildSetting.dflags);
+		assert(fields & BuildSetting.copyFiles);
+	}
+}
diff --git a/source/dub/dub.d b/source/dub/dub.d
index 90bec38..15f6358 100644
--- a/source/dub/dub.d
+++ b/source/dub/dub.d
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 */
 module dub.dub;
 
+import dub.compilers.compiler;
 import dub.dependency;
 import dub.installation;
 import dub.utils;
diff --git a/source/dub/generators/generator.d b/source/dub/generators/generator.d
index 5e27fcd..9d3a856 100644
--- a/source/dub/generators/generator.d
+++ b/source/dub/generators/generator.d
@@ -7,13 +7,16 @@
 */
 module dub.generators.generator;
 
-import dub.project;
-import dub.package_;
-import dub.packagemanager;
+import dub.compilers.compiler;
 import dub.generators.monod;
 import dub.generators.visuald;
-import vibe.core.log;
+import dub.package_;
+import dub.packagemanager;
+import dub.project;
+
 import std.exception;
+import vibe.core.log;
+
 
 /// A project generator generates projects :-/
 interface ProjectGenerator
diff --git a/source/dub/generators/monod.d b/source/dub/generators/monod.d
index 1d6590b..c8c2990 100644
--- a/source/dub/generators/monod.d
+++ b/source/dub/generators/monod.d
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@
 */
 module dub.generators.monod;
 
+import dub.compilers.compiler;
+import dub.generators.generator;
+import dub.package_;
+import dub.packagemanager;
+import dub.project;
+
 import std.algorithm;
 import std.array;
 import std.conv;
@@ -17,10 +23,6 @@
 import vibe.core.file;
 import vibe.core.log;
 
-import dub.project;
-import dub.package_;
-import dub.packagemanager;
-import dub.generators.generator;
 
 class MonoDGenerator : ProjectGenerator {
 	private {
diff --git a/source/dub/generators/visuald.d b/source/dub/generators/visuald.d
index ed31714..684c400 100644
--- a/source/dub/generators/visuald.d
+++ b/source/dub/generators/visuald.d
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@
 */
 module dub.generators.visuald;
 
+import dub.compilers.compiler;
+import dub.generators.generator;
+import dub.package_;
+import dub.packagemanager;
+import dub.project;
+
 import std.algorithm;
 import std.array;
 import std.conv;
@@ -17,11 +23,6 @@
 import vibe.core.file;
 import vibe.core.log;
 
-import dub.project;
-import dub.package_;
-import dub.packagemanager;
-import dub.generators.generator;
-
 version = VISUALD_SEPERATE_PROJECT_FILES;
 //version = VISUALD_SINGLE_PROJECT_FILE;
 
diff --git a/source/dub/package_.d b/source/dub/package_.d
index 5ce372b..b949b39 100644
--- a/source/dub/package_.d
+++ b/source/dub/package_.d
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 */
 module dub.package_;
 
+import dub.compilers.compiler;
 import dub.dependency;
 import dub.utils;
 
@@ -21,111 +22,6 @@
 
 enum PackageJsonFilename = "package.json";
 
-/// Represents a platform a package can be build upon.
-struct BuildPlatform {
-	/// e.g. ["posix", "windows"]
-	string[] platform;
-	/// e.g. ["x86", "x64"]
-	string[] architecture;
-	/// e.g. "dmd"
-	string compiler;
-}
-
-/// BuildPlatform specific settings, like needed libraries or additional
-/// include paths.
-struct BuildSettings {
-	string[] dflags;
-	string[] lflags;
-	string[] libs;
-	string[] files;
-	string[] copyFiles;
-	string[] versions;
-	string[] importPaths;
-	string[] stringImportPaths;
-
-	void parse(in Json root, BuildPlatform platform)
-	{
-		addDFlags(getPlatformField(root, "dflags", platform));
-		addLFlags(getPlatformField(root, "lflags", platform));
-		addLibs(getPlatformField(root, "libs", platform));
-		addFiles(getPlatformField(root, "files", platform));
-		addCopyFiles(getPlatformField(root, "copyFiles", platform));
-		addVersions(getPlatformField(root, "versions", platform));
-		addImportDirs(getPlatformField(root, "importPaths", platform));
-		addStringImportDirs(getPlatformField(root, "stringImportPaths", platform));
-	}
-
-	void addDFlags(string[] value) { add(dflags, value); }
-	void addLFlags(string[] value) { add(lflags, value); }
-	void addLibs(string[] value) { add(libs, value); }
-	void addFiles(string[] value) { add(files, value); }
-	void addCopyFiles(string[] value) { add(copyFiles, value); }
-	void addVersions(string[] value) { add(versions, value); }
-	void addImportDirs(string[] value) { add(importPaths, value); }
-	void addStringImportDirs(string[] value) { add(stringImportPaths, value); }
-
-	// Adds vals to arr without adding duplicates.
-	private void add(ref string[] arr, string[] vals)
-	{
-		foreach( v; vals ){
-			bool found = false;
-			foreach( i; 0 .. arr.length )
-				if( arr[i] == v ){
-					found = true;
-					break;
-				}
-			if( !found ) arr ~= v;
-		}
-	}
-
-	// Parses json and returns the values of the corresponding field 
-	// by the platform.
-	private string[] getPlatformField(in Json json, string name, BuildPlatform platform)
-	const {
-		auto ret = appender!(string[])();
-		foreach( suffix; getPlatformSuffixIterator(platform) ){
-			foreach( j; json[name~suffix].opt!(Json[]) )
-				ret.put(j.get!string);
-		}
-		return ret.data;
-	}
-}
-
-/// Based on the BuildPlatform, creates an iterator with all suffixes.
-///
-/// Suffixes are build upon the following scheme, where each component
-/// is optional (indicated by []), but the order is obligatory.
-/// "[-platform][-architecture][-compiler]"
-///
-/// So the following strings are valid suffixes:
-/// "-windows-x86-dmd"
-/// "-dmd"
-/// "-arm"
-///
-int delegate(scope int delegate(ref string)) getPlatformSuffixIterator(BuildPlatform platform)
-{
-	int iterator(scope int delegate(ref string s) del)
-	{
-		auto c = platform.compiler;
-		int delwrap(string s) { return del(s); }
-		if( auto ret = delwrap(null) ) return ret;
-		if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~c) ) return ret;
-		foreach( p; platform.platform ){
-			if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~p) ) return ret;
-			if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~p~"-"~c) ) return ret;
-			foreach( a; platform.architecture ){
-				if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~p~"-"~a) ) return ret;
-				if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~p~"-"~a~"-"~c) ) return ret;
-			}
-		}
-		foreach( a; platform.architecture ){
-			if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~a) ) return ret;
-			if( auto ret = delwrap("-"~a~"-"~c) ) return ret;
-		}
-		return 0;
-	}
-	return &iterator;
-}
 
 /// Indicates where a package has been or should be installed to.
 enum InstallLocation {
diff --git a/source/dub/project.d b/source/dub/project.d
index 404bea0..2b1031a 100644
--- a/source/dub/project.d
+++ b/source/dub/project.d
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 */
 module dub.project;
 
+import dub.compilers.compiler;
 import dub.dependency;
 import dub.installation;
 import dub.utils;