diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/spec.py b/lib/spack/spack/spec.py
index 5050981e2f5..8d9ecb320db 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/spec.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/spec.py
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@
 from llnl.util.tty.color import cwrite, colorize, cescape, get_color_when
 
 import spack.architecture
+import spack.compiler
 import spack.compilers as compilers
 import spack.error
 import spack.parse