diff --git a/build/linux.gcc.inc b/build/linux.gcc.inc
index 9d93cfc..13274c3 100644
--- a/build/linux.gcc.inc
+++ b/build/linux.gcc.inc
@@ -32,29 +32,29 @@ DYLIB_KEY = -shared
 EXPORT_KEY = -Wl,--version-script,
 LIBDL = -ldl
 
-CPLUS = g++
-CONLY = gcc
+CPLUS = $(CXX)
+CONLY = $(CC)
 LIB_LINK_FLAGS = $(DYLIB_KEY) -Wl,-soname=$(BUILDING_LIBRARY)
 LIBS += -lpthread -lrt
 LINK_FLAGS = -Wl,-rpath-link=. -rdynamic
 C_FLAGS = $(CPLUS_FLAGS)
 # gcc 4.4 and higher support -std=c++0x
-ifneq (,$(shell gcc -dumpversion | egrep  "^(4\.[4-9]|[5-9])"))
+ifneq (,$(shell $(CC) -dumpversion | egrep  "^(4\.[4-9]|[5-9])"))
     CPP11_FLAGS = -std=c++0x -D_TBB_CPP0X
 endif
 
 # gcc 4.2 and higher support OpenMP
-ifneq (,$(shell gcc -dumpversion | egrep  "^(4\.[2-9]|[5-9])"))
+ifneq (,$(shell $(CC) -dumpversion | egrep  "^(4\.[2-9]|[5-9])"))
     OPENMP_FLAG = -fopenmp
 endif
 
 # gcc 4.8 and later support RTM intrinsics, but require command line switch to enable them
-ifneq (,$(shell gcc -dumpversion | egrep  "^(4\.[8-9]|[5-9])"))
-    RTM_KEY = -mrtm
-endif
+#ifneq (,$(shell $(CC) -dumpversion | egrep  "^(4\.[8-9]|[5-9])"))
+#    RTM_KEY = -mrtm
+#endif
 
 ifeq ($(cfg), release)
-        CPLUS_FLAGS = $(ITT_NOTIFY) -g -O2 -DUSE_PTHREAD
+        CPLUS_FLAGS = $(ITT_NOTIFY) -O2 -DNDEBUG -DUSE_PTHREAD
 endif
 ifeq ($(cfg), debug)
         CPLUS_FLAGS = -DTBB_USE_DEBUG $(ITT_NOTIFY) -g -O0 -DUSE_PTHREAD
diff --git a/build/linux.icc.inc b/build/linux.icc.inc
index 4d1da05..6fd4353 100644
--- a/build/linux.icc.inc
+++ b/build/linux.icc.inc
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ CONLY = icc
 
 ITT_NOTIFY = -DDO_ITT_NOTIFY
 ifeq (release,$(cfg))
-CPLUS_FLAGS = $(ITT_NOTIFY) -O2 -g -DUSE_PTHREAD
+CPLUS_FLAGS = $(ITT_NOTIFY) -O2 -DNDEBUG -DUSE_PTHREAD
 else
 CPLUS_FLAGS = $(ITT_NOTIFY) -O0 -g -DUSE_PTHREAD -DTBB_USE_DEBUG
 endif
diff --git a/build/linux.inc b/build/linux.inc
index 0fae348..81de9c0 100644
--- a/build/linux.inc
+++ b/build/linux.inc
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ ifndef arch
 endif
 
 ifndef runtime
-        gcc_version:=$(shell gcc -dumpversion)
+        gcc_version:=$(shell $(CC) -dumpversion)
         os_version:=$(shell uname -r)
         os_kernel_version:=$(shell uname -r | sed -e 's/-.*$$//')
         export os_glibc_version_full:=$(shell getconf GNU_LIBC_VERSION | grep glibc | sed -e 's/^glibc //')
@@ -65,8 +65,8 @@ ifndef runtime
         export runtime:=cc$(gcc_version)_libc$(os_glibc_version)_kernel$(os_kernel_version)
 endif
 
-native_compiler := gcc
-export compiler ?= gcc
+native_compiler := $(CC)
+export compiler ?= $(CC)
 debugger ?= gdb
 
 CMD=sh -c
diff --git a/build/version_info_linux.sh b/build/version_info_linux.sh
index 5df78af..1e0de4f 100644
--- a/build/version_info_linux.sh
+++ b/build/version_info_linux.sh
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ echo '#N": BUILD_HOST'"\t\t"`hostname -s`" ("`uname -m`")"'" ENDL \'
 # find OS name in *-release and issue* files by filtering blank lines and lsb-release content out
 echo '#N": BUILD_OS'"\t\t"`lsb_release -sd 2>/dev/null | grep -ih '[a-z] ' - /etc/*release /etc/issue 2>/dev/null | head -1 | sed -e 's/["\\\\]//g'`'" ENDL \'
 echo '#N": BUILD_KERNEL'"\t"`uname -srv`'" ENDL \'
-echo '#N": BUILD_GCC'"\t\t"`g++ --version </dev/null 2>&1 | grep 'g++'`'" ENDL \'
+echo '#N": BUILD_GCC'"\t\t"`${CXX} --version </dev/null 2>&1 | grep 'g++'`'" ENDL \'
 [ -z "$COMPILER_VERSION" ] || echo '#N": BUILD_COMPILER'"\t"$COMPILER_VERSION'" ENDL \'
 echo '#N": BUILD_LIBC'"\t"`getconf GNU_LIBC_VERSION | grep glibc | sed -e 's/^glibc //'`'" ENDL \'
 echo '#N": BUILD_LD'"\t\t"`ld -v 2>&1 | grep 'version'`'" ENDL \'
diff --git a/build/windows.gcc.inc b/build/windows.gcc.inc
index 2a6d000..e6bc75d 100644
--- a/build/windows.gcc.inc
+++ b/build/windows.gcc.inc
@@ -20,7 +20,11 @@
 # Overriding settings from windows.inc
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-SLASH= $(strip \)
+AR=x86_64-w64-mingw32-ar
+
+export compiler ?= $(CC)
+debugger ?= gdb
+
 OBJ = o
 LIBEXT = dll # MinGW allows linking with DLLs directly
 
@@ -43,13 +47,15 @@ LINK_TBB.LIB = $(TBB.LIB)
 # no TBB proxy for the configuration
 PROXY.LIB =
 
+TEST_LAUNCHER = $(subst /,\,$(tbb_root))/build/test_launcher.bat $(largs)
+
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # End of overridden settings
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Compiler-specific variables
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-CPLUS = g++
+CPLUS = $(CXX)
 COMPILE_ONLY = -c -MMD
 PREPROC_ONLY = -E -x c++
 INCLUDE_KEY = -I
@@ -75,17 +81,17 @@ LIBS = -lpsapi
 LINK_FLAGS = -Wl,--enable-auto-import
 LIB_LINK_FLAGS = $(DYLIB_KEY)
 # gcc 4.4 and higher support -std=c++0x
-ifeq (ok,$(call detect_js,/minversion gcc 4.4))
+ifneq (,$(shell $(CC) -dumpversion | egrep  "^(4\.[4-9]|[5-9])"))
     CPP11_FLAGS = -std=c++0x -D_TBB_CPP0X
 endif
 
 # gcc 4.8 and later support RTM intrinsics, but require command line switch to enable them
-ifeq (ok,$(call detect_js,/minversion gcc 4.8))
+ifneq (,$(shell $(CC) -dumpversion | egrep  "^(4\.[8-9]|[5-9])"))
     RTM_KEY = -mrtm
 endif
 
 ifeq ($(cfg), release)
-        CPLUS_FLAGS = -g -O2
+        CPLUS_FLAGS = -O2 -DNDEBUG
 endif
 ifeq ($(cfg), debug)
         CPLUS_FLAGS = -g -O0 -DTBB_USE_DEBUG
@@ -95,13 +101,13 @@ ifneq (00,$(lambdas)$(cpp0x))
     CXX_ONLY_FLAGS += $(CPP11_FLAGS)
 endif
 
-CPLUS_FLAGS += -DUSE_WINTHREAD
+CPLUS_FLAGS += -DUSE_WIN32_API -DUSE_WINTHREAD
 CPLUS_FLAGS += -D_WIN32_WINNT=$(_WIN32_WINNT)
 
 # MinGW specific
 CPLUS_FLAGS += -DMINGW_HAS_SECURE_API=1 -D__MSVCRT_VERSION__=0x0700 -msse -mthreads
 
-CONLY = gcc
+CONLY = $(CC)
 debugger = gdb
 C_FLAGS = $(CPLUS_FLAGS)
 
@@ -124,7 +130,7 @@ export UNIXMODE = 1
 # Setting assembler data
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-ASM=
+ASM=x86_64-w64-mingw32-as
 ASM_FLAGS=
 TBB_ASM.OBJ=
 ASSEMBLY_SOURCE=$(arch)-gas
diff --git a/build/windows.inc b/build/windows.inc
index 0ada045..309fbda 100644
--- a/build/windows.inc
+++ b/build/windows.inc
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@
 # by the GNU General Public License. This exception does not however invalidate any other
 # reasons why the executable file might be covered by the GNU General Public License.
 
-export SHELL = cmd
-
 ifdef tbb_build_dir
   test_dir:=$(tbb_build_dir)
 else
@@ -41,21 +39,22 @@ native_compiler := cl
 export compiler ?= cl
 debugger ?= devenv /debugexe
 
-CMD=cmd /C
-CWD=$(shell cmd /C echo %CD%)
-RM=cmd /C del /Q /F
-RD=cmd /C rmdir
-MD=cmd /c mkdir
-SLASH=\\
-NUL = nul
+CMD=sh -c
+CWD=$(shell pwd)
+CP=cp
+RM?=rm -f
+RD?=rmdir
+MD?=mkdir -p
+SLASH=/
+NUL = /dev/null
 
 AR=lib
 AR_OUTPUT_KEY=/out:
 AR_FLAGS=/nologo /nodefaultlib
 
-OBJ = obj
+OBJ = o
 DLL = dll
-LIBEXT = lib
+LIBEXT = a
 ASMEXT = asm
 
 def_prefix = $(if $(findstring intel64,$(arch)),win64,win32)
@@ -103,8 +102,8 @@ ifneq ($(filter vc8 vc9,$(runtime)),)
 RML.MANIFEST = tbbmanifest.exe.manifest
 endif
 
-MAKE_VERSIONS = cmd /C cscript /nologo /E:jscript $(subst \,/,$(tbb_root))/build/version_info_windows.js $(compiler) $(arch) $(subst \,/,"$(VERSION_FLAGS)") > version_string.ver
-MAKE_TBBVARS  = cmd /C "$(subst /,\,$(tbb_root))\build\generate_tbbvars.bat"
+MAKE_VERSIONS=sh $(tbb_root)/build/version_info_linux.sh $(VERSION_FLAGS) >version_string.ver
+MAKE_TBBVARS=sh $(tbb_root)/build/generate_tbbvars.sh
 
 TEST_LAUNCHER = $(subst /,\,$(tbb_root))\build\test_launcher.bat $(largs)