diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/hdf5/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/hdf5/package.py
index adc0510f432..e2910bfb5c6 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/hdf5/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/hdf5/package.py
@@ -187,7 +187,8 @@ def flag_handler(self, name, flags):
         cmake_flags = []
 
         if name == "cflags":
-            if "clang" in self.compiler.cc or "gcc" in self.compiler.cc:
+            cc_name = os.path.basename(self.compiler.cc)
+            if "clang" in cc_name or "gcc" in cc_name:
                 # Quiet warnings/errors about implicit declaration of functions
                 # in C99:
                 cmake_flags.append("-Wno-implicit-function-declaration")