diff --git a/source/dub/generators/build.d b/source/dub/generators/build.d
index d0f295ceb..fd6d4d9dc 100644
--- a/source/dub/generators/build.d
+++ b/source/dub/generators/build.d
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ class BuildGenerator : ProjectGenerator {
 		// perform the actual build
 		bool cached = false;
 		if (settings.rdmd) performRDMDBuild(settings, buildsettings, pack, config, target_path);
-		else if (settings.direct || !generate_binary) performDirectBuild(settings, buildsettings, pack, config, target_path);
+		else if (!generate_binary) performDirectBuild(settings, buildsettings, pack, config, target_path);
 		else cached = performCachedBuild(settings, buildsettings, pack, config, build_id, packages, additional_dep_files, target_path);
 
 		// HACK: cleanup dummy doc files, we shouldn't specialize on buildType
diff --git a/source/dub/generators/generator.d b/source/dub/generators/generator.d
index 7f4fc90f5..4c0f99437 100644
--- a/source/dub/generators/generator.d
+++ b/source/dub/generators/generator.d
@@ -811,7 +811,7 @@ struct GeneratorSettings {
 	bool filterVersions;
 
 	// only used for generator "build"
-	bool run, force, direct, rdmd, tempBuild, parallelBuild;
+	bool run, force, rdmd, tempBuild, parallelBuild;
 
 	/// single file dub package
 	bool single;
@@ -1065,7 +1065,6 @@ const(string[string])[] makeCommandEnvironmentVariables(CommandType type,
 	env["DUB_COMBINED"]          = settings.combined?      "TRUE" : "";
 	env["DUB_RUN"]               = settings.run?           "TRUE" : "";
 	env["DUB_FORCE"]             = settings.force?         "TRUE" : "";
-	env["DUB_DIRECT"]            = settings.direct?        "TRUE" : "";
 	env["DUB_RDMD"]              = settings.rdmd?          "TRUE" : "";
 	env["DUB_TEMP_BUILD"]        = settings.tempBuild?     "TRUE" : "";
 	env["DUB_PARALLEL_BUILD"]    = settings.parallelBuild? "TRUE" : "";