diff --git a/lazproj/test/coeditproj/cleaner.coedit b/lazproj/test/coeditproj/cleaner.coedit
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..07ff3ab0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lazproj/test/coeditproj/cleaner.coedit
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+object CurrentProject: TCEProject
+  OptionsCollection = <  
+    item
+      name = 'release'
+      outputOptions.inlining = True
+      outputOptions.noBoundsCheck = False
+      outputOptions.boundsCheck = offAlways
+      outputOptions.optimizations = True
+      outputOptions.release = True
+      pathsOptions.outputFilename = '<CPP>..\..\cleaner.exe'
+      preBuildProcess.options = []
+      preBuildProcess.showWindow = swoNone
+      postBuildProcess.executable = '<CAP>cleaner.exe'
+      postBuildProcess.options = [poUsePipes, poStderrToOutPut]
+      postBuildProcess.parameters.Strings = (
+        '-r'
+        '-f'
+        '<CAP>'
+        '-e'
+        '.tmp,.res'
+      )
+      postBuildProcess.showWindow = swoHIDE
+      runOptions.options = []
+      runOptions.showWindow = swoNone
+    end>
+  Sources.Strings = (
+    '..\src\cleaner.d'
+  )
+  ConfigurationIndex = 0
+end
diff --git a/lazproj/test/src/cleaner.d b/lazproj/test/src/cleaner.d
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1d395d72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lazproj/test/src/cleaner.d
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+module cleaner;
+
+import std.stdio;
+import std.path;
+import std.file;
+import std.getopt;
+import std.array;
+
+//as a runnable: -f "dir" -r -e ".ext1,.ext2"
+
+/*
+as a post-build process, parameter list:
+-f
+pathtoclean (w/o dbl quotes)
+-r
+-e
+.a,.b,.c
+*/
+void main(string args[])
+{
+    bool recursive;
+    string root;
+    string userexts;
+    string exts[];
+
+    exts ~= [".obj", ".o"];
+
+    getopt(args, config.passThrough,
+        "f|from", &root,
+        "r|recursive", &recursive,
+        "e|ext", &userexts
+    );
+
+    if (!exists(root) || root.length == 0)
+        return;
+
+    if (userexts.length != 0)
+    {
+        auto itms = split(userexts, ',');
+        foreach(itm; itms)
+            if (itm.length > 1 && itm[0] == '.')
+                exts ~= itm;
+    }
+
+    void clean(in string currroot)
+    {
+        DirIterator entries = dirEntries(currroot, SpanMode.shallow);
+
+        foreach(entry; entries)
+        {
+            scope(failure){}
+
+            if (!isDir(entry))
+            {
+                foreach(trg_ext; exts)
+                    if (entry.extension == trg_ext)
+                        std.file.remove(entry);
+            }
+            else if (recursive)
+                clean(entry);
+        }
+    }
+
+    clean(root);
+}
diff --git a/src/ce_common.pas b/src/ce_common.pas
index 49dd64e1..adc4d611 100644
--- a/src/ce_common.pas
+++ b/src/ce_common.pas
@@ -646,7 +646,10 @@ begin
   ext := extractFileExt(anExeName);
   if ext <> exeExt then
     anExeName += exeExt;
-  exit(ExeSearch(anExeName, '') <> '');
+  if FileExists(anExeName) then
+    exit(true)
+  else
+    exit(ExeSearch(anExeName, '') <> '');
 end;
 
 initialization
diff --git a/src/ce_main.pas b/src/ce_main.pas
index eed86963..a44277f1 100644
--- a/src/ce_main.pas
+++ b/src/ce_main.pas
@@ -1259,7 +1259,7 @@ procedure TCEMainForm.compileProject(const aProject: TCEProject);
 var
   dmdproc: TProcess;
   ppproc: TProcess;
-  olddir, prjpath: string;
+  olddir, prjpath, ppname: string;
   i: NativeInt;
 begin
 
@@ -1267,12 +1267,14 @@ begin
 
   with fProject.currentConfiguration do
   begin
-    if preBuildProcess.executable <> '' then
-      if exeInSysPath(preBuildProcess.executable) then
+    ppname := expandSymbolicString(preBuildProcess.executable);
+    if ppname <> '``' then
+      if exeInSysPath(ppname) then
       begin
         ppproc := TProcess.Create(nil);
         try
           preBuildProcess.setProcess(ppproc);
+          ppproc.Executable := ppname;
           for i:= 0 to ppproc.Parameters.Count-1 do
             ppproc.Parameters.Strings[i] := expandSymbolicString(ppproc.Parameters.Strings[i]);
           if ppproc.CurrentDirectory = '' then
@@ -1324,12 +1326,14 @@ begin
 
     with fProject.currentConfiguration do
     begin
-      if postBuildProcess.executable <> '' then
-        if exeInSysPath(postBuildProcess.executable) then
+      ppname := expandSymbolicString(postBuildProcess.executable);
+      if ppname <> '``' then
+        if exeInSysPath(ppname) then
         begin
           ppproc := TProcess.Create(nil);
           try
             postBuildProcess.setProcess(ppproc);
+            ppproc.Executable := ppname;
             for i:= 0 to ppproc.Parameters.Count-1 do
               ppproc.Parameters.Strings[i] := expandSymbolicString(ppproc.Parameters.Strings[i]);
             if ppproc.CurrentDirectory = '' then