diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index 9c6ecbd17..eb765b899 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ BinaryProvider = "b99e7846-7c00-51b0-8f62-c81ae34c0232"
 Blosc = "a74b3585-a348-5f62-a45c-50e91977d574"
 Libdl = "8f399da3-3557-5675-b5ff-fb832c97cbdb"
 Mmap = "a63ad114-7e13-5084-954f-fe012c677804"
+CMakeWrapper = "d5fb7624-851a-54ee-a528-d3f3bac0b4a0"
 
 [compat]
 julia = "0.7, 1"
diff --git a/deps/build.jl b/deps/build.jl
index 30c53e862..5cd7cabaa 100644
--- a/deps/build.jl
+++ b/deps/build.jl
@@ -1,37 +1,65 @@
 using BinaryProvider # requires BinaryProvider 0.3.0 or later
 
+ENV["FORCE_COMPILE_HDF5"] = "yes"
+verbose = true
+
+include("compile.jl")
+
+# env var to force compilation from source, for testing purposes
+const force_compile = get(ENV, "FORCE_COMPILE_HDF5", "no") == "yes"
+
 # Parse some basic command-line arguments
-const verbose = "--verbose" in ARGS
+# const verbose = "--verbose" in ARGS
 const prefix = Prefix(get([a for a in ARGS if a != "--verbose"], 1, joinpath(@__DIR__, "usr")))
 products = [
     LibraryProduct(prefix, ["libhdf5"], :libhdf5),
 ]
 
+verbose && force_compile && @info("Forcing compilation from source.")
+
 # Download binaries from hosted location
 bin_prefix = "https://github.com/JuliaPackaging/Yggdrasil/releases/download/HDF5-v1.10.5+1"
 
 # Listing of files generated by BinaryBuilder:
 download_info = Dict(
-    Linux(:i686, libc=:glibc) => ("$bin_prefix/HDF5.v1.10.5.i686-linux-gnu.tar.gz", "7fcb6949436a793796f4e548ef5f6a29b01a54c0929c9680b3d2bbb89a3d69b1"),
-    Windows(:i686) => ("$bin_prefix/HDF5.v1.10.5.i686-w64-mingw32.tar.gz", "cb88263a578cbfc4b5d5aba1a4fe1b8883e32a20858c4b1b291159c2574ffbb3"),
     MacOS(:x86_64) => ("$bin_prefix/HDF5.v1.10.5.x86_64-apple-darwin14.tar.gz", "c5f491933d353c8002be6cd5750f0ce74c6f6b9fd93a499dec9040f53366ea1c"),
+
+    Linux(:i686, libc=:glibc) => ("$bin_prefix/HDF5.v1.10.5.i686-linux-gnu.tar.gz", "7fcb6949436a793796f4e548ef5f6a29b01a54c0929c9680b3d2bbb89a3d69b1"),
     Linux(:x86_64, libc=:glibc) => ("$bin_prefix/HDF5.v1.10.5.x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz", "481378199cd8a5d67fda5b175874b5c3119cc29c6e6fecd10f7ec824e57893a6"),
+
+    Windows(:i686) => ("$bin_prefix/HDF5.v1.10.5.i686-w64-mingw32.tar.gz", "cb88263a578cbfc4b5d5aba1a4fe1b8883e32a20858c4b1b291159c2574ffbb3"),
     Windows(:x86_64) => ("$bin_prefix/HDF5.v1.10.5.x86_64-w64-mingw32.tar.gz", "e21b425551395a80e83ecc41026e440611cc498b545976db0e9e2c709d7dd3ac"),
 )
 
+# source code tarball and hash for fallback compilation
+source_url = "https://support.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases/hdf5-1.10/hdf5-1.10.5/src/hdf5-1.10.5.tar.gz"
+source_hash = "6d4ce8bf902a97b050f6f491f4268634e252a63dadd6656a1a9be5b7b7726fa8"
+
 # Install unsatisfied or updated dependencies:
 unsatisfied = any(!satisfied(p; verbose=verbose) for p in products)
 dl_info = choose_download(download_info, platform_key_abi())
-if dl_info === nothing && unsatisfied
-    # If we don't have a compatible .tar.gz to download, complain.
-    # Alternatively, you could attempt to install from a separate provider,
-    # build from source or something even more ambitious here.
-    error("Your platform (\"$(Sys.MACHINE)\", parsed as \"$(triplet(platform_key_abi()))\") is not supported by this package!")
+if dl_info === nothing && unsatisfied || force_compile
+    # If we don't have a compatible .tar.gz to download
+    # fall back to building from source, giving the library a different name
+    # so that it is not overwritten by BinaryBuilder downloads or vice-versa.
+    verbose && @info "Building from source for your platform (\"$(Sys.MACHINE)\", parsed as \"$(triplet(platform_key_abi()))\")."
+
+    libname = "libhdf5_from_src"
+    products = [
+        LibraryProduct(prefix, [libname], :libhdf5)
+    ]
+    unsatisfied = any(!satisfied(p; verbose=verbose) for p in products)
+
+    source_path = joinpath(prefix, "downloads", "src.tar.gz")
+    if !isfile(source_path) || !verify(source_path, source_hash; verbose=verbose) || unsatisfied
+        compile(libname, source_url, source_hash, prefix=prefix, verbose=verbose)
+    end
+
 end
 
 # If we have a download, and we are unsatisfied (or the version we're
 # trying to install is not itself installed) then load it up!
-if unsatisfied || !isinstalled(dl_info...; prefix=prefix)
+if unsatisfied || !isinstalled(dl_info...; prefix=prefix) && !force_compile
     # Download and install binaries
     install(dl_info...; prefix=prefix, force=true, verbose=verbose)
 end
diff --git a/deps/compile.jl b/deps/compile.jl
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb48b8cbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deps/compile.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+using BinaryProvider
+using CMakeWrapper: cmake_executable
+using Libdl: dlext
+
+function compile(libname, tarball_url, hash; prefix=BinaryProvider.global_prefix, verbose=false)
+    # download to tarball_path
+    tarball_path = joinpath(prefix, "downloads", "src.tar.gz")
+    download_verify(tarball_url, hash, tarball_path; force=true, verbose=verbose)
+
+    # unpack into source_path
+    tarball_dir = joinpath(prefix, "downloads", dirname(first(list_tarball_files(tarball_path)))) # e.g. "hdf5-1.10.5"
+    source_path = joinpath(prefix, "downloads", "src")
+    verbose && @info("Unpacking $tarball_path into $source_path")
+    rm(tarball_dir, force=true, recursive=true)
+    rm(source_path, force=true, recursive=true)
+    unpack(tarball_path, dirname(tarball_dir); verbose=verbose)
+    mv(tarball_dir, source_path)
+
+    build_dir = joinpath(source_path, "build")
+    mkdir(build_dir)
+    verbose && @info("Compiling in $build_dir...")
+    cd(build_dir) do
+        run(`$cmake_executable -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON --DHDF_ENABLE_PARALLEL=ON  -DHDF5_BUILD_CPP_LIB=OFF ..`)
+        run(`$cmake_executable --build . --config release`)
+        mkpath(libdir(prefix))
+        if Sys.iswindows()
+            cp("bin/Release/hdf5.$dlext",       joinpath(libdir(prefix), libname*"."*dlext),       force=true, follow_symlinks=true)
+            cp("bin/Release/hdf5_hl.$dlext",    joinpath(libdir(prefix), libname*"_hl."*dlext),    force=true, follow_symlinks=true)
+            cp("bin/Release/hdf5_tools.$dlext", joinpath(libdir(prefix), libname*"_tools."*dlext), force=true, follow_symlinks=true)
+        else
+            cp("bin/libhdf5.$dlext",            joinpath(libdir(prefix), libname*"."*dlext),       force=true, follow_symlinks=true)
+            cp("bin/libhdf5_hl.$dlext",         joinpath(libdir(prefix), libname*"_hl."*dlext),    force=true, follow_symlinks=true)
+            cp("bin/libhdf5_tools.$dlext",      joinpath(libdir(prefix), libname*"_tools."*dlext), force=true, follow_symlinks=true)
+        end
+    end
+end