diff --git a/rdmd.d b/rdmd.d
index 5d66c9f..61fb86a 100644
--- a/rdmd.d
+++ b/rdmd.d
@@ -51,7 +51,32 @@ else version (LDC)
 else
     static assert(false, "Unknown compiler");
 
-private string compiler = defaultCompiler;
+private string compiler;
+
+void chooseCompiler(ref string compiler)
+{
+    import std.stdio;
+
+    // if compiler is set explicitly, don't interefer
+    // otherwise find one that exists in PATH
+    if (!compiler.length)
+    {
+        import std.process : executeShell;
+        auto compilers = [ defaultCompiler, "dmd", "ldmd2", "gdmd2", "ldmd", "gdmd" ];   
+
+        foreach (candidate; compilers)
+        {
+            // dirty hack, no-arg dmd invocation will return 1
+            if (executeShell(candidate ~ "| grep Usage").status == 0)
+            {
+                compiler = candidate;
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+
+        throw new Exception("Couldn't find any D compiler");
+    }
+}
 
 int main(string[] args)
 {
@@ -141,6 +166,8 @@ int main(string[] args)
     if (bailout) return 0;
     if (dryRun) chatty = true; // dry-run implies chatty
 
+    chooseCompiler(compiler);
+
     /* Only -of is supported because Make is very susceptible to file names, and
      * it doesn't do a good job resolving them. One option would be to use
      * std.path.buildNormalizedPath(), but some corner cases will break, so it