The following options specify other activities for make.
-t
--touch
-q
--question
-W
file
--what-if=file
--assume-new=file
--new-file=file
With the -n flag, make prints the commands that it would normally execute but does not execute them.
With the -t flag, make ignores the commands in the rules and uses (in effect) the command, touch, for each target that needs to be remade. The touch command is also printed, unless -s or .SILENT is used. For speed, make does not actually invoke the program, touch. It does the work directly.
With the -q flag, make prints nothing and executes no commands, but the exit status code it returns is zero if and only if the targets to be considered are already up to date. If the exit status is one, then some updating needs to be done. If make encounters an error, the exit status is two, so you can distinguish an error from a target that is not up to date.
It is an error to use more than one of the three flags, -n, -t, and -q, in the same invocation of make.
The-n, -t, and -q options do not affect command lines that begin with + characters or contain the strings $(MAKE) or ${MAKE}. Only the line containing the + character or the strings $(MAKE) or ${MAKE} is run, regardless of these options. Other lines in the same rule are not run unless they too begin with + or contain $(MAKE) or ${MAKE}. See How the MAKE variable works.
The -W
flag provides two features:
The options, -p and -v, allow you to obtain other information about make or about the makefiles in use (see Summary of options).