diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 47dcf7dc4..e81592682 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ __dummy.html
 /bin/dub-test-library
 /bin/libdub.a
 /bin/dub-*
+/bin/dub.*
 
 # Ignore files or directories created by the test suite.
 *.exe
diff --git a/source/dub/compilers/compiler.d b/source/dub/compilers/compiler.d
index 6a0014ece..a00c24ca4 100644
--- a/source/dub/compilers/compiler.d
+++ b/source/dub/compilers/compiler.d
@@ -177,24 +177,21 @@ interface Compiler {
 			args			=	arguments for the probe compilation
 			arch_override	=	special handler for x86_mscoff
 	*/
-	protected final BuildPlatform probePlatform(string compiler_binary, string[] args,
-		string arch_override)
+	protected final BuildPlatform probePlatform(string compiler_binary, string[] args, string arch_override)
 	{
-		import dub.compilers.utils : generatePlatformProbeFile, readPlatformJsonProbe;
+		import dub.compilers.utils : generatePlatformProbeFile, readPlatformSDLProbe;
 		import std.string : format, strip;
 
-		auto fil = generatePlatformProbeFile();
+		NativePath fil = generatePlatformProbeFile();
 
 		auto result = execute(compiler_binary ~ args ~ fil.toNativeString());
 		enforce!CompilerInvocationException(result.status == 0,
 				format("Failed to invoke the compiler %s to determine the build platform: %s",
 				compiler_binary, result.output));
-
-		auto build_platform = readPlatformJsonProbe(result.output);
+		BuildPlatform build_platform = readPlatformSDLProbe(result.output);
+		string ver = determineVersion(compiler_binary, result.output).strip;
 		build_platform.compilerBinary = compiler_binary;
 
-		auto ver = determineVersion(compiler_binary, result.output)
-			.strip;
 		if (ver.empty) {
 			logWarn(`Could not probe the compiler version for "%s". ` ~
 				`Toolchain requirements might be ineffective`, build_platform.compiler);
diff --git a/source/dub/compilers/utils.d b/source/dub/compilers/utils.d
index b3bb1e64a..2b8addf7b 100644
--- a/source/dub/compilers/utils.d
+++ b/source/dub/compilers/utils.d
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 module dub.compilers.utils;
 
 import dub.compilers.buildsettings;
-import dub.platform : BuildPlatform, archCheck, compilerCheck, platformCheck;
+import dub.platform : BuildPlatform, archCheck, compilerCheckPragmas, platformCheck, pragmaGen;
 import dub.internal.vibecompat.inet.path;
 import dub.internal.logging;
 
@@ -269,77 +269,101 @@ private enum probeEndMark = "__dub_probe_end__";
 NativePath generatePlatformProbeFile()
 {
 	import dub.internal.vibecompat.core.file;
-	import dub.internal.vibecompat.data.json;
 	import dub.internal.utils;
 	import std.string : format;
 
-	// try to not use phobos in the probe to avoid long import times
-	enum probe = q{
-		module dub_platform_probe;
-
-		template toString(int v) { enum toString = v.stringof; }
-		string stringArray(string[] ary) {
-			string res;
-			foreach (i, e; ary) {
-				if (i)
-					res ~= ", ";
-				res ~= '"' ~ e ~ '"';
-			}
-			return res;
-		}
+	enum moduleInfo = q{
+		module object;
+		alias string = const(char)[];
+	};
 
-		pragma(msg, `%1$s`
-			~ '\n' ~ `{`
-			~ '\n' ~ `  "compiler": "`~ determineCompiler() ~ `",`
-			~ '\n' ~ `  "frontendVersion": ` ~ toString!__VERSION__ ~ `,`
-			~ '\n' ~ `  "compilerVendor": "` ~ __VENDOR__ ~ `",`
-			~ '\n' ~ `  "platform": [`
-			~ '\n' ~ `    ` ~ determinePlatform().stringArray
-			~ '\n' ~ `  ],`
-			~ '\n' ~ `  "architecture": [`
-			~ '\n' ~ `    ` ~ determineArchitecture().stringArray
-			~ '\n' ~ `   ],`
-			~ '\n' ~ `}`
-			~ '\n' ~ `%2$s`);
-
-		string[] determinePlatform() { %3$s }
-		string[] determineArchitecture() { %4$s }
-		string determineCompiler() { %5$s }
-
-		}.format(probeBeginMark, probeEndMark, platformCheck, archCheck, compilerCheck);
+	// avoid druntime so that this compiles without a compiler's builtin object.d
+	enum probe = q{
+		%1$s
+		pragma(msg, `%2$s`);
+		pragma(msg, `\n`);
+		pragma(msg, `compiler`);
+		%6$s
+		pragma(msg, `\n`);
+		pragma(msg, `frontendVersion "`);
+		pragma(msg, __VERSION__.stringof);
+		pragma(msg, `"\n`);
+		pragma(msg, `compilerVendor "`);
+		pragma(msg, __VENDOR__);
+		pragma(msg, `"\n`);
+		pragma(msg, `platform`);
+		%4$s
+		pragma(msg, `\n`);
+		pragma(msg, `architecture `);
+		%5$s
+		pragma(msg, `\n`);
+		pragma(msg, `%3$s`);
+	}.format(moduleInfo, probeBeginMark, probeEndMark, pragmaGen(platformCheck), pragmaGen(archCheck), compilerCheckPragmas);
 
 	auto path = getTempFile("dub_platform_probe", ".d");
 	writeFile(path, probe);
-
 	return path;
 }
 
+
 /**
-	Processes the JSON output generated by compiling the platform probe file.
+	Processes the SDL output generated by compiling the platform probe file.
 
 	See_Also: `generatePlatformProbeFile`.
 */
-BuildPlatform readPlatformJsonProbe(string output)
+BuildPlatform readPlatformSDLProbe(string output)
 {
-	import std.algorithm : map;
+	import std.algorithm : map, max, splitter, joiner, count, filter;
 	import std.array : array;
 	import std.exception : enforce;
+	import std.range : front;
+	import std.ascii : newline;
 	import std.string;
+	import dub.internal.sdlang.parser;
+	import dub.internal.sdlang.ast;
+	import std.conv;
 
 	// work around possible additional output of the compiler
-	auto idx1 = output.indexOf(probeBeginMark);
-	auto idx2 = output.lastIndexOf(probeEndMark);
+	auto idx1 = output.indexOf(probeBeginMark ~ newline ~ "\\n");
+	auto idx2 = output[max(0, idx1) .. $].indexOf(probeEndMark) + idx1;
 	enforce(idx1 >= 0 && idx1 < idx2,
 		"Unexpected platform information output - does not contain a JSON object.");
-	output = output[idx1+probeBeginMark.length .. idx2];
+	output = output[idx1 + probeBeginMark.length .. idx2].replace(newline, "").replace("\\n", "\n");
 
-	import dub.internal.vibecompat.data.json;
-	auto json = parseJsonString(output);
+	output = output.splitter("\n").filter!((e) => e.length > 0)
+		.map!((e) {
+			if (e.count("\"") == 0)
+			{
+				return e ~ ` ""`;
+			}
+			return e;
+		})
+		.joiner("\n").array().to!string;
 
 	BuildPlatform build_platform;
-	build_platform.platform = json["platform"].get!(Json[]).map!(e => e.get!string()).array();
-	build_platform.architecture = json["architecture"].get!(Json[]).map!(e => e.get!string()).array();
-	build_platform.compiler = json["compiler"].get!string;
-	build_platform.frontendVersion = json["frontendVersion"].get!int;
+	Tag sdl = parseSource(output);
+
+	foreach (n; sdl.all.tags)
+	{
+		switch (n.name)
+		{
+		default:
+			break;
+		case "platform":
+			build_platform.platform = n.values.map!(e => e.toString()).array();
+			break;
+		case "architecture":
+			build_platform.architecture = n.values.map!(e => e.toString()).array();
+			break;
+		case "compiler":
+			build_platform.compiler = n.values.front.toString();
+			break;
+		case "frontendVersion":
+			build_platform.frontendVersion = n.values.front.toString()
+				.filter!((e) => e >= '0' && e <= '9').array().to!string
+				.to!int;
+			break;
+		}
+	}
 	return build_platform;
 }
diff --git a/source/dub/platform.d b/source/dub/platform.d
index 07a5357a7..2a178c3be 100644
--- a/source/dub/platform.d
+++ b/source/dub/platform.d
@@ -115,6 +115,21 @@ enum string compilerCheck = q{
 	else return null;
 };
 
+/// private
+enum string compilerCheckPragmas = q{
+	version(DigitalMars) pragma(msg, ` "dmd"`);
+	else version(GNU) pragma(msg, ` "gdc"`);
+	else version(LDC) pragma(msg, ` "ldc"`);
+	else version(SDC) pragma(msg, ` "sdc"`);
+};
+
+/// private, converts the above appender strings to pragmas
+string pragmaGen(string str) {
+	import std.string : replace;
+	return str.replace("return ret;", "").replace("string[] ret;", "").replace(`["`, `"`).replace(`", "`,`" "`).replace(`"]`, `"`).replace(`;`, "`);").replace("ret ~= ", "pragma(msg, ` ");
+}
+
+
 /** Determines the full build platform used for the current build.
 
 	Note that the `BuildPlatform.compilerBinary` field will be left empty.