diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/mixins.py b/lib/spack/spack/mixins.py
index be13e3ea3aa..ee1f57c91d0 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/mixins.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/mixins.py
@@ -190,7 +190,11 @@ def _filter_compiler_wrappers_impl(self):
         ]
         for env_var, compiler_path in replacements:
             if env_var in os.environ:
-                x.filter(os.environ[env_var], compiler_path, **filter_kwargs)
+                # filter spack wrapper and links to spack wrapper in case
+                # build system runs realpath
+                wrapper = os.environ[env_var]
+                for wrapper_path in (wrapper, os.path.realpath(wrapper)):
+                    x.filter(wrapper_path, compiler_path, **filter_kwargs)
 
         # Remove this linking flag if present (it turns RPATH into RUNPATH)
         x.filter('{0}--enable-new-dtags'.format(self.compiler.linker_arg), '',