diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/compiler.py b/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/compiler.py
index 7526d2e8a3d..fae6e70377b 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/compiler.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/compiler.py
@@ -165,6 +165,8 @@ def determine_variants(cls, exes: Sequence[Path], version_str: str) -> Tuple:
     #: Flag to activate OpenMP support
     openmp_flag: str = "-fopenmp"
 
+    required_libs: List[str] = []
+
     def standard_flag(self, *, language: str, standard: str) -> str:
         """Returns the flag used to enforce a given standard for a language"""
         if language not in self.supported_languages:
@@ -288,6 +290,39 @@ def archspec_name(self) -> str:
         """Name that archspec uses to refer to this compiler"""
         return self.spec.name
 
+    @property
+    def cc(self) -> Optional[str]:
+        assert self.spec.concrete, "cannot retrieve C compiler, spec is not concrete"
+        if self.spec.external:
+            return self.spec.extra_attributes["compilers"].get("c", None)
+        return self._cc_path()
+
+    def _cc_path(self) -> Optional[str]:
+        """Returns the path to the C compiler, if the package was installed by Spack"""
+        return None
+
+    @property
+    def cxx(self) -> Optional[str]:
+        assert self.spec.concrete, "cannot retrieve C++ compiler, spec is not concrete"
+        if self.spec.external:
+            return self.spec.extra_attributes["compilers"].get("cxx", None)
+        return self._cxx_path()
+
+    def _cxx_path(self) -> Optional[str]:
+        """Returns the path to the C++ compiler, if the package was installed by Spack"""
+        return None
+
+    @property
+    def fortran(self):
+        assert self.spec.concrete, "cannot retrieve Fortran compiler, spec is not concrete"
+        if self.spec.external:
+            return self.spec.extra_attributes["compilers"].get("fortran", None)
+        return self._fortran_path()
+
+    def _fortran_path(self) -> Optional[str]:
+        """Returns the path to the Fortran compiler, if the package was installed by Spack"""
+        return None
+
 
 def _implicit_rpaths(pkg: spack.package_base.PackageBase) -> List[str]:
     detector = spack.compilers.libraries.CompilerPropertyDetector(pkg.spec)