diff --git a/src/Symfony/Bundle/AsseticBundle/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php b/src/Symfony/Bundle/AsseticBundle/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php
index 16c45c0228..16b9af4431 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Bundle/AsseticBundle/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Bundle/AsseticBundle/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 
 namespace Symfony\Bundle\AsseticBundle\DependencyInjection;
 
+use Symfony\Component\Process\ExecutableFinder;
+use Symfony\Component\Process\Exception\ExecutableNotFoundException;
 use Symfony\Component\Config\Definition\Builder\TreeBuilder;
 use Symfony\Component\Config\Definition\ConfigurationInterface;
 
@@ -48,6 +50,7 @@ class Configuration implements ConfigurationInterface
     public function getConfigTreeBuilder()
     {
         $builder = new TreeBuilder();
+        $finder = new ExecutableFinder();
 
         $builder->root('assetic')
             ->children()
@@ -55,9 +58,9 @@ class Configuration implements ConfigurationInterface
                 ->booleanNode('use_controller')->defaultValue($this->debug)->end()
                 ->scalarNode('read_from')->defaultValue('%kernel.root_dir%/../web')->end()
                 ->scalarNode('write_to')->defaultValue('%assetic.read_from%')->end()
-                ->scalarNode('java')->defaultValue('/usr/bin/java')->end()
-                ->scalarNode('node')->defaultValue('/usr/bin/node')->end()
-                ->scalarNode('sass')->defaultValue('/usr/bin/sass')->end()
+                ->scalarNode('java')->defaultValue(function() use ($finder) { try { return $finder->find('java'); } catch(ExecutableNotFoundException $ex) { return null; } })->end()
+                ->scalarNode('node')->defaultValue(function() use ($finder) { try { return $finder->find('node'); } catch(ExecutableNotFoundException $ex) { return null; } })->end()
+                ->scalarNode('sass')->defaultValue(function() use ($finder) { try { return $finder->find('sass'); } catch(ExecutableNotFoundException $ex) { return null; } })->end()
             ->end()
 
             // bundles
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Process/Exception/Exception.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Process/Exception/Exception.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0f4e490d02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Process/Exception/Exception.php
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Symfony\Component\Process\Exception;
+
+/**
+ * Base exception interface for this component.
+ *
+ * @author Johannes M. Schmitt <schmittjoh@gmail.com>
+ */
+interface Exception
+{
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Process/Exception/ExecutableNotFoundException.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Process/Exception/ExecutableNotFoundException.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7fc87c22ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Process/Exception/ExecutableNotFoundException.php
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Symfony\Component\Process\Exception;
+
+/**
+ * This exception is thrown when an executable is not found.
+ *
+ * @author Johannes M. Schmitt <schmittjoh@gmail.com>
+ */
+class ExecutableNotFoundException extends RuntimeException
+{
+    private $name;
+
+    public function __construct($name)
+    {
+        parent::__construct(sprintf('Could not find executable "%s".', $name));
+
+        $this->name = $name;
+    }
+
+    public function getName()
+    {
+        return $this->name;
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Process/Exception/RuntimeException.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Process/Exception/RuntimeException.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4dd0f5f203
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Process/Exception/RuntimeException.php
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Symfony\Component\Process\Exception;
+
+/**
+ * RuntimeException for this component.
+ *
+ * @author Johannes M. Schmitt <schmittjoh@gmail.com>
+ */
+class RuntimeException extends \RuntimeException implements Exception
+{
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Process/ExecutableFinder.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Process/ExecutableFinder.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6c774d6900
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Process/ExecutableFinder.php
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+<?php
+
+/*
+ * This file is part of the Symfony package.
+ *
+ * (c) Fabien Potencier <fabien@symfony.com>
+ *
+ * For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
+ * file that was distributed with this source code.
+ */
+
+namespace Symfony\Component\Process;
+
+use Symfony\Component\Process\Exception\ExecutableNotFoundException;
+
+/**
+ * Generic executable finder.
+ *
+ * @author Fabien Potencier <fabien@symfony.com>
+ * @author Johannes M. Schmitt <schmittjoh@gmail.com>
+ */
+class ExecutableFinder
+{
+    private $suffixes = array('.exe', '.bat', '.cmd', '.com');
+
+    public function setSuffixes(array $suffixes)
+    {
+        $this->suffixes = $suffixes;
+    }
+
+    public function addSuffix($suffix)
+    {
+        $this->suffixes[] = $suffix;
+    }
+
+    public function find($name)
+    {
+        $dirs = explode(PATH_SEPARATOR, getenv('PATH') ? getenv('PATH') : getenv('Path'));
+        $suffixes = DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR == '\\' ? (getenv('PATHEXT') ? explode(PATH_SEPARATOR, getenv('PATHEXT')) : $this->suffixes) : array('');
+        foreach ($suffixes as $suffix) {
+            foreach ($dirs as $dir) {
+                if (is_file($file = $dir.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.$name.$suffix) && is_executable($file)) {
+                    return $file;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        throw new ExecutableNotFoundException($name);
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Process/PhpExecutableFinder.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Process/PhpExecutableFinder.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a53a922f66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Process/PhpExecutableFinder.php
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+<?php
+
+/*
+ * This file is part of the Symfony package.
+ *
+ * (c) Fabien Potencier <fabien@symfony.com>
+ *
+ * For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
+ * file that was distributed with this source code.
+ */
+
+namespace Symfony\Component\Process;
+
+use Symfony\Component\Process\Exception\RuntimeException;
+
+/**
+ * An executable finder specifically designed for the PHP executable.
+ *
+ * @author Fabien Potencier <fabien@symfony.com>
+ * @author Johannes M. Schmitt <schmittjoh@gmail.com>
+ */
+class PhpExecutableFinder
+{
+    private $executableFinder;
+
+    public function __construct()
+    {
+        $this->executableFinder = new ExecutableFinder();
+    }
+
+    public function find()
+    {
+        if ($php = getenv('PHP_PATH')) {
+            if (!is_executable($php)) {
+                throw new RuntimeException('The defined PHP_PATH environment variable is not a valid PHP executable.');
+            }
+
+            return $php;
+        }
+
+        $suffixes = DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR == '\\' ? (getenv('PATHEXT') ? explode(PATH_SEPARATOR, getenv('PATHEXT')) : array('.exe', '.bat', '.cmd', '.com')) : array('');
+        foreach ($suffixes as $suffix) {
+            if (is_executable($php = PHP_BINDIR.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'php'.$suffix)) {
+                return $php;
+            }
+        }
+
+        if ($php = getenv('PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN')) {
+            if (is_executable($php)) {
+                return $php;
+            }
+        }
+
+        return $this->executableFinder->find('php');
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Process/PhpProcess.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Process/PhpProcess.php
index 628b3f3f40..1dd15886c2 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Process/PhpProcess.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Process/PhpProcess.php
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ namespace Symfony\Component\Process;
  */
 class PhpProcess extends Process
 {
+    private $executableFinder;
+
     /**
      * Constructor.
      *
@@ -38,6 +40,8 @@ class PhpProcess extends Process
     public function __construct($script, $cwd = null, array $env = array(), $timeout = 60, array $options = array())
     {
         parent::__construct(null, $cwd, $env, $script, $timeout, $options);
+
+        $this->executableFinder = new PhpExecutableFinder();
     }
 
     /**
@@ -63,42 +67,9 @@ class PhpProcess extends Process
     public function run($callback = null)
     {
         if (null === $this->getCommandLine()) {
-            $this->setCommandLine($this->getPhpBinary());
+            $this->setCommandLine($this->executableFinder->find());
         }
 
         return parent::run($callback);
     }
-
-    /**
-     * Returns the PHP binary path.
-     *
-     * @return string The PHP binary path
-     *
-     * @throws \RuntimeException When defined PHP_PATH is not executable or not found
-     */
-    private function getPhpBinary()
-    {
-        if ($php = getenv('PHP_PATH')) {
-            if (!is_executable($php)) {
-                throw new \RuntimeException('The defined PHP_PATH environment variable is not a valid PHP executable.');
-            }
-
-            return $php;
-        }
-
-        $suffixes = DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR == '\\' ? (getenv('PATHEXT') ? explode(PATH_SEPARATOR, getenv('PATHEXT')) : array('.exe', '.bat', '.cmd', '.com')) : array('');
-        foreach ($suffixes as $suffix) {
-            if (is_executable($php = PHP_BINDIR.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'php'.$suffix)) {
-                return $php;
-            }
-        }
-
-        if ($php = getenv('PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN')) {
-            if (is_executable($php)) {
-                return $php;
-            }
-        }
-
-        throw new \RuntimeException('Unable to find the PHP executable.');
-    }
 }