diff --git a/Makefile.superproject.example b/Makefile.superproject.example
index f30a7b5..e2cebae 100644
--- a/Makefile.superproject.example
+++ b/Makefile.superproject.example
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ update: | update-common
 # building Nim programs
 foo bar: | build deps
 	echo -e $(BUILD_MSG) "build/$@" && \
-		$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c -o:build/$@ $(NIM_PARAMS) "$@.nim"
+		$(ENV_SCRIPT) "$(NIMC)" c -o:build/$@ $(NIM_PARAMS) "$@.nim"
 
 clean: | clean-common
 	rm -rf build/{foo,bar}
diff --git a/makefiles/variables.mk b/makefiles/variables.mk
index 229e4a5..586bad8 100644
--- a/makefiles/variables.mk
+++ b/makefiles/variables.mk
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ CC ?= gcc
 endif
 LD := $(CC)
 
+NIMC ?= nim
+
 #- extra parameters for the Nim compiler
 #- NIMFLAGS should come from the environment or make's command line
 NIM_PARAMS := $(NIMFLAGS)
diff --git a/scripts/env.sh b/scripts/env.sh
index d2298ff..e37b5fc 100755
--- a/scripts/env.sh
+++ b/scripts/env.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 ## get native Windows paths on Mingw
 #uname | grep -qi mingw && PWD_CMD="pwd -W"
 
+export NIMC=${NIMC:-nim}
+
 # We use ${BASH_SOURCE[0]} instead of $0 to allow sourcing this file
 # and we fall back to a Zsh-specific special var to also support Zsh.
 export REL_PATH="$(dirname ${BASH_SOURCE[0]:-${(%):-%x}})"
@@ -34,7 +36,7 @@ export PATH="${NIMBLE_DIR}/bin:${PATH}"
 if [[ "$USE_SYSTEM_NIM" != "1" ]]; then
 	export PATH="${NIM_PATH}:${PATH}"
 else
-	echo "[using system Nim: $(which nim)]" 1>&2
+	echo "[using system Nim: $(which $NIMC)]" 1>&2
 fi
 
 if [[ -n "${NIM_COMMIT}" && "${NIM_COMMIT}" != "nimbus" ]]; then
diff --git a/scripts/nimble.sh b/scripts/nimble.sh
index 933b293..7521f3d 100755
--- a/scripts/nimble.sh
+++ b/scripts/nimble.sh
@@ -32,5 +32,5 @@ cleanup() {
 [ -e "$NIMS" ] || { ln -s "$F" "$NIMS"; trap cleanup EXIT; }
 
 # can't have an "exec" here or the EXIT pseudo-signal won't be triggered
-$(dirname $0)/env.sh nim "$@" "$NIMS"
+$(dirname $0)/env.sh "$NIMC" "$@" "$NIMS"