diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index fc73b897c3aa3..39f34b5372262 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ julia-deps: | $(DIRS) $(build_datarootdir)/julia/base $(build_datarootdir)/julia
 julia-stdlib: | $(DIRS) julia-deps
 	@$(MAKE) $(QUIET_MAKE) -C $(BUILDROOT)/stdlib
 
-julia-base: julia-deps $(build_sysconfdir)/julia/startup.jl $(build_man1dir)/julia.1 $(build_datarootdir)/julia/julia-config.jl $(build_datarootdir)/julia/juliac.jl $(build_datarootdir)/julia/juliac-buildscript.jl $(build_datarootdir)/julia/juliac-trim-base.jl $(build_datarootdir)/julia/juliac-trim-stdlib.jl
+julia-base: julia-deps $(build_sysconfdir)/julia/startup.jl $(build_man1dir)/julia.1 $(build_datarootdir)/julia/julia-config.jl $(build_datarootdir)/julia/juliac/juliac.jl $(build_datarootdir)/julia/juliac/juliac-buildscript.jl $(build_datarootdir)/julia/juliac/juliac-trim-base.jl $(build_datarootdir)/julia/juliac/juliac-trim-stdlib.jl
 	@$(MAKE) $(QUIET_MAKE) -C $(BUILDROOT)/base
 
 julia-libccalltest: julia-deps
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ $(build_sysconfdir)/julia/startup.jl: $(JULIAHOME)/etc/startup.jl | $(build_sysc
 	@cp $< $@
 
 $(build_datarootdir)/julia/%: $(JULIAHOME)/contrib/% | $(build_datarootdir)/julia
+	mkdir -p $(dir $@)
 	$(INSTALL_M) $< $(dir $@)
 
 $(build_depsbindir)/stringreplace: $(JULIAHOME)/contrib/stringreplace.c | $(build_depsbindir)
diff --git a/contrib/juliac/Artifacts.toml b/contrib/juliac/Artifacts.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..54771b41b21f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/juliac/Artifacts.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+[[mingw-w64]]
+arch = "x86_64"
+git-tree-sha1 = "b17bda08a19173572926f43a48aad5ef3d845e7c"
+os = "windows"
+lazy = true
+
+    [[mingw-w64.download]]
+    sha256 = "53645e06775a55733580426341395c67dda20a664af83bcda76a1d052b618b59"
+    url = "https://github.com/JuliaLang/PackageCompiler.jl/releases/download/v2.1.24/x86_64-14.2.0-release-posix-seh-msvcrt-rt_v12-rev0.tar.gz"
+
+[[mingw-w64]]
+arch = "i686"
+git-tree-sha1 = "76b9f278e7de1d7dfdfe3a786afbe9c1e29003ea"
+os = "windows"
+lazy = true
+
+    [[mingw-w64.download]]
+    sha256 = "d049bd771e01b02f2ca9274435f0e6f9f4f295bf2af72a8059dd851c52144910"
+    url = "https://github.com/JuliaLang/PackageCompiler.jl/releases/download/v2.1.24/i686-14.2.0-release-posix-dwarf-msvcrt-rt_v12-rev0.tar.gz"
diff --git a/contrib/juliac-buildscript.jl b/contrib/juliac/juliac-buildscript.jl
similarity index 100%
rename from contrib/juliac-buildscript.jl
rename to contrib/juliac/juliac-buildscript.jl
diff --git a/contrib/juliac-trim-base.jl b/contrib/juliac/juliac-trim-base.jl
similarity index 100%
rename from contrib/juliac-trim-base.jl
rename to contrib/juliac/juliac-trim-base.jl
diff --git a/contrib/juliac-trim-stdlib.jl b/contrib/juliac/juliac-trim-stdlib.jl
similarity index 100%
rename from contrib/juliac-trim-stdlib.jl
rename to contrib/juliac/juliac-trim-stdlib.jl
diff --git a/contrib/juliac.jl b/contrib/juliac/juliac.jl
similarity index 66%
rename from contrib/juliac.jl
rename to contrib/juliac/juliac.jl
index d637f1f1bf3a2..ed80d88444639 100644
--- a/contrib/juliac.jl
+++ b/contrib/juliac/juliac.jl
@@ -3,8 +3,10 @@
 # Julia compiler wrapper script
 # NOTE: The interface and location of this script are considered unstable/experimental
 
+using LazyArtifacts
+
 module JuliaConfig
-    include(joinpath(@__DIR__, "julia-config.jl"))
+    include(joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "julia-config.jl"))
 end
 
 julia_cmd = `$(Base.julia_cmd()) --startup-file=no --history-file=no`
@@ -30,6 +32,57 @@ if help !== nothing
     exit(0)
 end
 
+# Copied from PackageCompiler
+# https://github.com/JuliaLang/PackageCompiler.jl/blob/1c35331d8ef81494f054bbc71214811253101993/src/PackageCompiler.jl#L147-L190
+function get_compiler_cmd(; cplusplus::Bool=false)
+    cc = get(ENV, "JULIA_CC", nothing)
+    path = nothing
+    @static if Sys.iswindows()
+        path = joinpath(LazyArtifacts.artifact"mingw-w64",
+                        "extracted_files",
+                        (Int==Int64 ? "mingw64" : "mingw32"),
+                        "bin",
+                        cplusplus ? "g++.exe" : "gcc.exe")
+        compiler_cmd = `$path`
+    end
+    if cc !== nothing
+        compiler_cmd = Cmd(Base.shell_split(cc))
+        path = nothing
+    elseif !Sys.iswindows()
+        compilers_cpp = ("g++", "clang++")
+        compilers_c = ("gcc", "clang")
+        found_compiler = false
+        if cplusplus
+            for compiler in compilers_cpp
+                if Sys.which(compiler) !== nothing
+                    compiler_cmd = `$compiler`
+                    found_compiler = true
+                    break
+                end
+            end
+        end
+        if !found_compiler
+            for compiler in compilers_c
+                if Sys.which(compiler) !== nothing
+                    compiler_cmd = `$compiler`
+                    found_compiler = true
+                    if cplusplus && !WARNED_CPP_COMPILER[]
+                        @warn "could not find a c++ compiler (g++ or clang++), falling back to $compiler, this might cause link errors"
+                        WARNED_CPP_COMPILER[] = true
+                    end
+                    break
+                end
+            end
+        end
+        found_compiler || error("could not find a compiler, looked for ",
+            join(((cplusplus ? compilers_cpp : ())..., compilers_c...), ", ", " and "))
+    end
+    if path !== nothing
+        compiler_cmd = addenv(compiler_cmd, "PATH" => string(ENV["PATH"], ";", dirname(path)))
+    end
+    return compiler_cmd
+end
+
 # arguments to forward to julia compilation process
 julia_args = []
 enable_trim::Bool = false
@@ -82,6 +135,7 @@ function get_rpath(; relative::Bool = false)
     end
 end
 
+cc = get_compiler_cmd()
 absfile = abspath(file)
 cflags = JuliaConfig.cflags(; framework=false)
 cflags = Base.shell_split(cflags)
@@ -93,7 +147,6 @@ tmpdir = mktempdir(cleanup=false)
 img_path = joinpath(tmpdir, "img.a")
 bc_path = joinpath(tmpdir, "img-bc.a")
 
-
 function precompile_env()
     # Pre-compile the environment
     # (otherwise obscure error messages will occur)
@@ -121,7 +174,6 @@ function compile_products(enable_trim::Bool)
         println(stderr, "\nFailed to compile $file")
         exit(1)
     end
-
 end
 
 function link_products()
@@ -137,11 +189,11 @@ function link_products()
     julia_libs = Base.shell_split(Base.isdebugbuild() ? "-ljulia-debug -ljulia-internal-debug" : "-ljulia -ljulia-internal")
     try
         if output_type == "--output-lib"
-            cmd2 = `cc $(allflags) $(rpath) -o $outname -shared -Wl,$(Base.Linking.WHOLE_ARCHIVE) $img_path  -Wl,$(Base.Linking.NO_WHOLE_ARCHIVE)  $(julia_libs)`
+            cmd2 = `$(cc) $(allflags) $(rpath) -o $outname -shared -Wl,$(Base.Linking.WHOLE_ARCHIVE) $img_path  -Wl,$(Base.Linking.NO_WHOLE_ARCHIVE)  $(julia_libs)`
         elseif output_type == "--output-sysimage"
-            cmd2 = `cc $(allflags) $(rpath) -o $outname -shared -Wl,$(Base.Linking.WHOLE_ARCHIVE) $img_path  -Wl,$(Base.Linking.NO_WHOLE_ARCHIVE)             $(julia_libs)`
+            cmd2 = `$(cc) $(allflags) $(rpath) -o $outname -shared -Wl,$(Base.Linking.WHOLE_ARCHIVE) $img_path  -Wl,$(Base.Linking.NO_WHOLE_ARCHIVE)             $(julia_libs)`
         else
-            cmd2 = `cc $(allflags) $(rpath) -o $outname -Wl,$(Base.Linking.WHOLE_ARCHIVE) $img_path -Wl,$(Base.Linking.NO_WHOLE_ARCHIVE)  $(julia_libs)`
+            cmd2 = `$(cc) $(allflags) $(rpath) -o $outname -Wl,$(Base.Linking.WHOLE_ARCHIVE) $img_path -Wl,$(Base.Linking.NO_WHOLE_ARCHIVE)  $(julia_libs)`
         end
         verbose && println("Running: $cmd2")
         run(cmd2)
diff --git a/doc/src/devdocs/sysimg.md b/doc/src/devdocs/sysimg.md
index 2cbba2744d4a1..e8202736e57e1 100644
--- a/doc/src/devdocs/sysimg.md
+++ b/doc/src/devdocs/sysimg.md
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ debug info, respectively, and so will make debugging more difficult.
 We have identified many small changes to Base that significantly increase the set of programs
 that can be reliably trimmed. Unfortunately some of those changes would be considered breaking,
 and so are only applied when trimming is requested (this is done by an external build script,
-currently maintained inside the test suite as `contrib/juliac-buildscript.jl`).
+currently maintained inside the test suite as `contrib/juliac/juliac-buildscript.jl`).
 Therefore in many cases trimming will require you to opt in to new variants of Base and some
 standard libraries.
 
diff --git a/test/trimming/Makefile b/test/trimming/Makefile
index e3c7536bbc92c..c3145765655e7 100644
--- a/test/trimming/Makefile
+++ b/test/trimming/Makefile
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ CFLAGS_ADD = $(shell $(JULIA_CONFIG) --cflags)
 LDFLAGS_ADD = -lm $(shell $(JULIA_CONFIG) --ldflags --ldlibs) -ljulia-internal
 
 # get the JuliaC build script
-JULIAC_BUILDSCRIPT := $(shell $(JULIA) -e 'print(joinpath(Sys.BINDIR, Base.DATAROOTDIR, "julia", "juliac-buildscript.jl"))')
+JULIAC_BUILDSCRIPT := $(shell $(JULIA) -e 'print(joinpath(Sys.BINDIR, Base.DATAROOTDIR, "julia", "juliac", "juliac-buildscript.jl"))')
 
 #=============================================================================