diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 483b8784..e1836e58 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -4,14 +4,14 @@ SUBDIRS	= lib bin
 
 .PHONY: all
 all:
-	for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
-		$(MAKE) -C $$dir;		\
+	@for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
+		$(MAKE) -C $$dir || exit 1;	\
 	done
 
 .PHONY: install
 install:
-	for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
-		$(MAKE) -C $$dir install;	\
+	@for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
+		$(MAKE) -C $$dir install || exit 1;	\
 	done
 	@echo
 	@echo "Binaries have been installed into $(SBINDIR)."
@@ -22,12 +22,12 @@ install:
 
 .PHONY: uninstall
 uninstall:
-	for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
-		$(MAKE) -C $$dir uninstall;	\
+	@for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
+		$(MAKE) -C $$dir uninstall || exit 1;	\
 	done
 
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
-	for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
-		$(MAKE) -C $$dir clean;		\
+	@for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
+		$(MAKE) -C $$dir clean || exit 1;	\
 	done
diff --git a/bin/Makefile b/bin/Makefile
index 835b75ac..d0ca2feb 100644
--- a/bin/Makefile
+++ b/bin/Makefile
@@ -1,33 +1,32 @@
 include ../vars.mk
 
-SUBDIRS =	xbps-bin
-SUBDIRS +=	xbps-cmpver
+SUBDIRS =	xbps-cmpver
 SUBDIRS +=	xbps-digest
 SUBDIRS +=	xbps-fetch
 SUBDIRS +=	xbps-pkgdb
 SUBDIRS +=	xbps-repo
-SUBDIRS +=	xbps-fetch
+SUBDIRS +=	xbps-bin
 
 .PHONY: all
 all:
-	for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
-		$(MAKE) -C $$dir;		\
+	@for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
+		$(MAKE) -C $$dir || exit 1;	\
 	done
 
 .PHONY: install
 install:
-	for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
-		$(MAKE) -C $$dir install;	\
+	@for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
+		$(MAKE) -C $$dir install || exit 1;	\
 	done
 
 .PHONY: uninstall
 uninstall:
-	for bin in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
+	@for bin in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
 		-rm -f $(SBINDIR)/$$bin;	\
 	done
 
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
-	for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
-		$(MAKE) -C $$dir clean;		\
+	@for dir in $(SUBDIRS); do		\
+		$(MAKE) -C $$dir clean || exit 1;	\
 	done
diff --git a/bin/xbps-bin/Makefile b/bin/xbps-bin/Makefile
index d49ca900..3a3ffe99 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-bin/Makefile
+++ b/bin/xbps-bin/Makefile
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ include $(TOPDIR)/vars.mk
 
 BIN = xbps-bin
 OBJS = check.o install.o main.o remove.o show-deps.o ../xbps-repo/util.o
+MAN = $(BIN).8
 
 include $(TOPDIR)/prog.mk
 
diff --git a/bin/xbps-cmpver/Makefile b/bin/xbps-cmpver/Makefile
index 975331cb..93817347 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-cmpver/Makefile
+++ b/bin/xbps-cmpver/Makefile
@@ -2,6 +2,5 @@ TOPDIR = ../..
 include $(TOPDIR)/vars.mk
 
 BIN = xbps-cmpver
-MAN = # empty
 
 include $(TOPDIR)/prog.mk
diff --git a/bin/xbps-digest/Makefile b/bin/xbps-digest/Makefile
index 9fac7f2d..0529461c 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-digest/Makefile
+++ b/bin/xbps-digest/Makefile
@@ -2,6 +2,5 @@ TOPDIR = ../..
 include $(TOPDIR)/vars.mk
 
 BIN = xbps-digest
-MAN = # empty
 
 include $(TOPDIR)/prog.mk
diff --git a/bin/xbps-fetch/Makefile b/bin/xbps-fetch/Makefile
index 551ada7e..890d2c86 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-fetch/Makefile
+++ b/bin/xbps-fetch/Makefile
@@ -2,6 +2,5 @@ TOPDIR = ../..
 include $(TOPDIR)/vars.mk
 
 BIN = xbps-fetch
-MAN = # empty
 
 include $(TOPDIR)/prog.mk
diff --git a/bin/xbps-pkgdb/Makefile b/bin/xbps-pkgdb/Makefile
index a3af8da2..3c3b00b0 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-pkgdb/Makefile
+++ b/bin/xbps-pkgdb/Makefile
@@ -2,6 +2,5 @@ TOPDIR = ../..
 include $(TOPDIR)/vars.mk
 
 BIN = xbps-pkgdb
-MAN = # empty
 
 include $(TOPDIR)/prog.mk
diff --git a/bin/xbps-repo/Makefile b/bin/xbps-repo/Makefile
index c5e315cd..0ccfbf35 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-repo/Makefile
+++ b/bin/xbps-repo/Makefile
@@ -3,5 +3,6 @@ include $(TOPDIR)/vars.mk
 
 BIN =	xbps-repo
 OBJS =	main.o util.o index.o
+MAN = $(BIN).8
 
 include $(TOPDIR)/prog.mk
diff --git a/doc/README b/doc/README
index 74b0e12b..a725ef3b 100644
--- a/doc/README
+++ b/doc/README
@@ -33,9 +33,7 @@ To build the xbps utils, you'll need for both shared and dynamic:
 	* proplib (devel pkg)
 	* openssl (devel pkg)
 
-If you only want to build the static binaries, you can pass STATIC=1
-to the make command. You'll need development packages for the ones
-mentioned above as well as the following:
+And the following packages as well to build the static binaries:
 
 	* attr (devel pkg with static lib)
 	* acl (devel pkg with static lib)
diff --git a/lib/Makefile b/lib/Makefile
index fdbea4b2..16d82f96 100644
--- a/lib/Makefile
+++ b/lib/Makefile
@@ -20,38 +20,35 @@ OBJS +=	repository.o requiredby.o sha256.o sortdeps.o state.o
 OBJS +=	sync_remote_pkgidx.o unpack.o util.o pkgmatch.o
 
 .PHONY: all
-ifdef STATIC
-all: libfetch libxbps.a
-else
 all: libfetch libxbps.so libxbps.a
-endif
 
 libfetch:
-	$(MAKE) -C fetch
+	@$(MAKE) -C fetch
 
 %.o: %.c
-	$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(SHAREDLIB_CFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) \
+	@echo "    [CC] $@"
+	@$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(SHAREDLIB_CFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) \
 		$(LDFLAGS) $(STATIC_LIBS) -c $<
 
 libxbps.so: $(OBJS) $(LIBFETCH_OBJS)
-	$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) $(SHAREDLIB_LDFLAGS) $^ -o $(LIBXBPS_SHLIB)
-	-ln -sf $(LIBXBPS_SHLIB) libxbps.so.$(LIBMAJOR)
-	-ln -sf $(LIBXBPS_SHLIB) libxbps.so
+	@echo "    [CCLD] $@"
+	@$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) $(SHAREDLIB_LDFLAGS) $^ -o $(LIBXBPS_SHLIB)
+	@-ln -sf $(LIBXBPS_SHLIB) libxbps.so.$(LIBMAJOR)
+	@-ln -sf $(LIBXBPS_SHLIB) libxbps.so
 
 libxbps.a: $(OBJS) $(LIBFETCH_OBJS)
-	$(AR) rcs $@ $^
-	ranlib $@
+	@echo "    [AR] $@"
+	@$(AR) rcs $@ $^
+	@echo "    [RANLIB] $@"
+	@ranlib $@
 
 .PHONY: install
 install: all
 	install -d $(LIBDIR)
-ifdef STATIC
 	install -m 644 libxbps.a $(LIBDIR)
-else
 	install -m 644 $(LIBXBPS_SHLIB) $(LIBDIR)
 	cp -a libxbps.so $(LIBDIR)
 	cp -a libxbps.so.$(LIBMAJOR) $(LIBDIR)
-endif
 
 .PHONY: uninstall
 uninstall:
@@ -60,4 +57,4 @@ uninstall:
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
 	-rm -f libxbps* $(OBJS)
-	$(MAKE) -C fetch clean
+	@$(MAKE) -C fetch clean
diff --git a/lib/fetch/Makefile b/lib/fetch/Makefile
index 32c94f10..694c24c7 100644
--- a/lib/fetch/Makefile
+++ b/lib/fetch/Makefile
@@ -20,14 +20,17 @@ GEN = ftperr.h httperr.h
 all: $(INCS) $(GEN) $(OBJS)
 
 %.o: %.c $(INCS) $(GEN)
-	$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) \
+	@echo "    [CC] $@"
+	@$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) \
 		$(SHAREDLIB_CFLAGS) -c $<
 
 ftperr.h: ftp.errors
-	./errlist.sh ftp_errlist FTP ftp.errors > $@
+	@echo "    [GEN] $@"
+	@./errlist.sh ftp_errlist FTP ftp.errors > $@
 
 httperr.h: http.errors
-	./errlist.sh http_errlist HTTP http.errors > $@
+	@echo "    [GEN] $@"
+	@./errlist.sh http_errlist HTTP http.errors > $@
 
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
diff --git a/prog.mk b/prog.mk
index ddd80c4f..243c1562 100644
--- a/prog.mk
+++ b/prog.mk
@@ -1,26 +1,25 @@
-OBJS ?=	main.o
-MAN ?= $(BIN).8
+OBJS	?= main.o
+LDFLAGS	+= -lxbps
 
-LDFLAGS += -lxbps
-
-ifdef STATIC
-all: $(BIN).static
-MAN =
-else
-all: $(BIN) $(MAN)
-endif
-
-.PHONY: all
+%.o: %.c
+	@echo "    [CC] $@"
+	@$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) $(STATIC_LIBS) -c $<
 
 $(MAN):
-	a2x -f manpage $(MAN).txt
+	@echo "    [ASCIIDOC] $(MAN)"
+	@a2x -f manpage $(MAN).txt
 
 $(BIN).static: $(OBJS)
-	$(CC) $^ $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) \
-		$(STATIC_LIBS) -o $@
+	@echo "    [CCLD] $@"
+	@$(CC) -static $^ $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) \
+		$(STATIC_LIBS) -o $@ >/dev/null 2>&1
 
 $(BIN): $(OBJS)
-	$(CC) $^ $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@
+	@echo "    [CCLD] $@"
+	@$(CC) $^ $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@
+
+.PHONY: all
+all: $(BIN) $(BIN).static $(MAN)
 
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
@@ -31,11 +30,8 @@ clean:
 .PHONY: install
 install: all
 	install -d $(SBINDIR)
-ifndef STATIC
 	install $(INSTALL_STRIPPED) -m 755 $(BIN) $(SBINDIR)
-else
 	install $(INSTALL_STRIPPED) -m 755 $(BIN).static $(SBINDIR)
-endif
 ifdef MAN
 	install -d $(MANDIR)
 	install -m 644 $(MAN) $(MANDIR)
@@ -45,3 +41,7 @@ endif
 uninstall:
 	-rm -f $(SBINDIR)/$(BIN)
 	-rm -f $(SBINDIR)/$(BIN).static
+
+ifdef MAN
+	-rm -f $(MANDIR)/$(MAN)
+endif
diff --git a/vars.mk b/vars.mk
index 0b41ec4c..369ca9c6 100644
--- a/vars.mk
+++ b/vars.mk
@@ -23,12 +23,8 @@ SHAREDLIB_CFLAGS = -fvisibility=hidden
 WARNFLAGS ?= -pedantic -std=c99 -Wall -Wextra -Werror -Wshadow -Wformat=2
 WARNFLAGS += -Wmissing-declarations -Wcomment -Wunused-macros -Wendif-labels
 WARNFLAGS += -Wcast-qual -Wcast-align -Wstack-protector
-CFLAGS = $(DEBUG_FLAGS) $(WARNFLAGS) -fstack-protector-all
+CFLAGS += $(DEBUG_FLAGS) $(WARNFLAGS) -fPIC -DPIC -fstack-protector-all
 
-ifdef STATIC
-CFLAGS += -static
+# Grr, hate the static libs!
 STATIC_LIBS =	-lprop -lpthread -larchive -lssl -lcrypto -ldl -lacl \
 		-lattr -lcrypto -llzma -lbz2 -lz
-else
-CFLAGS += -fPIC -DPIC
-endif