diff --git a/src/luarocks/core/cfg.lua b/src/luarocks/core/cfg.lua
index f93e67a..2eb2db9 100644
--- a/src/luarocks/core/cfg.lua
+++ b/src/luarocks/core/cfg.lua
@@ -425,9 +425,9 @@ local function make_defaults(lua_version, target_cpu, platforms, home)
       defaults.external_lib_extension = "dylib"
       defaults.arch = "macosx-"..target_cpu
       defaults.variables.LIBFLAG = "-bundle -undefined dynamic_lookup -all_load"
-      defaults.variables.STAT = "/usr/bin/stat"
+      defaults.variables.STAT = "stat"
       defaults.variables.STATFLAG = "-f '%A'"
-      local version = util.popen_read("sw_vers -productVersion")
+      local version = os.getenv("MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET") or "10.12"
       version = tonumber(version and version:match("^[^.]+%.([^.]+)")) or 3
       if version >= 10 then
          version = 8
@@ -436,8 +436,8 @@ local function make_defaults(lua_version, target_cpu, platforms, home)
       else
          defaults.gcc_rpath = false
       end
-      defaults.variables.CC = "env MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10."..version.." gcc"
-      defaults.variables.LD = "env MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10."..version.." gcc"
+      defaults.variables.CC = "env MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10."..version.." clang"
+      defaults.variables.LD = "env MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10."..version.." clang"
       defaults.web_browser = "open"
    end