diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index eb571a5a..15c81ecf 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+ifndef VERBOSE
+MAKEFLAGS += --no-print-directory
+endif
+
 PREFIX?=/usr
 LIBDIR?=$(PREFIX)/lib
 SBINDIR?=/sbin
@@ -50,7 +54,7 @@ LDLIBS += $(LIBNETLINK)
 all: Config
 	@set -e; \
 	for i in $(SUBDIRS); \
-	do $(MAKE) $(MFLAGS) -C $$i; done
+	do echo; echo $$i; $(MAKE) $(MFLAGS) -C $$i; done
 
 Config:
 	sh configure $(KERNEL_INCLUDE)
diff --git a/bridge/Makefile b/bridge/Makefile
index 98007530..7203f70b 100644
--- a/bridge/Makefile
+++ b/bridge/Makefile
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ endif
 all: bridge
 
 bridge: $(BROBJ) $(LIBNETLINK) 
+	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) -o $@
 
 install: all
 	install -m 0755 bridge $(DESTDIR)$(SBINDIR)
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index d2540b0d..60eb6b51 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -317,7 +317,35 @@ EOF
     rm -f $TMPDIR/dbtest.c $TMPDIR/dbtest
 }
 
+quiet_config()
+{
+	cat <<EOF
+# user can control verbosity similar to kernel builds (e.g., V=1)
+ifeq ("\$(origin V)", "command line")
+  VERBOSE = \$(V)
+endif
+ifndef VERBOSE
+  VERBOSE = 0
+endif
+ifeq (\$(VERBOSE),1)
+  Q =
+else
+  Q = @
+endif
+
+ifeq (\$(VERBOSE), 0)
+    QUIET_CC       = @echo '    CC       '\$@;
+    QUIET_AR       = @echo '    AR       '\$@;
+    QUIET_LINK     = @echo '    LINK     '\$@;
+    QUIET_YACC     = @echo '    YACC     '\$@;
+    QUIET_LEX      = @echo '    LEX      '\$@;
+endif
+EOF
+}
+
 echo "# Generated config based on" $INCLUDE >Config
+quiet_config >> Config
+
 check_toolchain
 
 echo "TC schedulers"
@@ -357,3 +385,7 @@ echo
 echo -n "docs:"
 check_docs
 echo
+
+echo >> Config
+echo "%.o: %.c" >> Config
+echo '	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(EXTRA_CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<' >> Config
diff --git a/devlink/Makefile b/devlink/Makefile
index 3fdaa690..7256c287 100644
--- a/devlink/Makefile
+++ b/devlink/Makefile
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ endif
 all: $(TARGETS) $(LIBS)
 
 devlink: $(DEVLINKOBJ)
+	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) -o $@
 
 install: all
 	install -m 0755 $(TARGETS) $(DESTDIR)$(SBINDIR)
diff --git a/genl/Makefile b/genl/Makefile
index 03d1f26a..f5a0bfe4 100644
--- a/genl/Makefile
+++ b/genl/Makefile
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ endif
 all: genl
 
 genl: $(GENLOBJ) $(LIBNETLINK) $(LIBUTIL) $(GENLLIB)
+	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) -o $@
 
 install: all
 	install -m 0755 genl $(DESTDIR)$(SBINDIR)
diff --git a/ip/Makefile b/ip/Makefile
index f3d29873..a7f9c110 100644
--- a/ip/Makefile
+++ b/ip/Makefile
@@ -24,8 +24,10 @@ TARGETS=ip rtmon
 all: $(TARGETS) $(SCRIPTS)
 
 ip: $(IPOBJ) $(LIBNETLINK)
+	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) -o $@
 
 rtmon: $(RTMONOBJ)
+	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) -o $@
 
 install: all
 	install -m 0755 $(TARGETS) $(DESTDIR)$(SBINDIR)
diff --git a/lib/Makefile b/lib/Makefile
index 9d1307dd..52e016db 100644
--- a/lib/Makefile
+++ b/lib/Makefile
@@ -15,10 +15,10 @@ NLOBJ=libgenl.o ll_map.o libnetlink.o
 all: libnetlink.a libutil.a
 
 libnetlink.a: $(NLOBJ)
-	$(AR) rcs $@ $(NLOBJ)
+	$(QUIET_AR)$(AR) rcs $@ $^
 
 libutil.a: $(UTILOBJ) $(ADDLIB)
-	$(AR) rcs $@ $(UTILOBJ) $(ADDLIB)
+	$(QUIET_AR)$(AR) rcs $@ $^
 
 install:
 
diff --git a/misc/Makefile b/misc/Makefile
index f50e7403..72807678 100644
--- a/misc/Makefile
+++ b/misc/Makefile
@@ -21,23 +21,25 @@ endif
 all: $(TARGETS)
 
 ss: $(SSOBJ)
+	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) -o $@
 
 nstat: nstat.c
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o nstat nstat.c $(LIBNETLINK) -lm
+	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o nstat nstat.c $(LIBNETLINK) -lm
 
 ifstat: ifstat.c
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o ifstat ifstat.c $(LIBNETLINK) -lm
+	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o ifstat ifstat.c $(LIBNETLINK) -lm
 
 rtacct: rtacct.c
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o rtacct rtacct.c $(LIBNETLINK) -lm
+	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o rtacct rtacct.c $(LIBNETLINK) -lm
 
 arpd: arpd.c
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -I$(DBM_INCLUDE) $(LDFLAGS) -o arpd arpd.c $(LIBNETLINK) -ldb -lpthread
+	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -I$(DBM_INCLUDE) $(LDFLAGS) -o arpd arpd.c $(LIBNETLINK) -ldb -lpthread
 
 ssfilter.c: ssfilter.y
-	bison ssfilter.y -o ssfilter.c
+	$(QUIET_YACC)bison ssfilter.y -o ssfilter.c
 
 lnstat: $(LNSTATOBJ)
+	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) -o $@
 
 install: all
 	install -m 0755 $(TARGETS) $(DESTDIR)$(SBINDIR)
diff --git a/tc/Makefile b/tc/Makefile
index 20f51100..42747c51 100644
--- a/tc/Makefile
+++ b/tc/Makefile
@@ -125,15 +125,16 @@ CFLAGS += -DYY_NO_INPUT
 MODDESTDIR := $(DESTDIR)$(LIBDIR)/tc
 
 %.so: %.c
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -shared -fpic $< -o $@
+	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -shared -fpic $< -o $@
 
 
 all: libtc.a tc $(TCSO)
 
 tc: $(TCOBJ) $(TCLIB)
+	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) -o $@
 
 libtc.a: $(TCLIB)
-	$(AR) rcs $@ $(TCLIB)
+	$(QUIET_AR)$(AR) rcs $@ $(TCLIB)
 
 install: all
 	mkdir -p $(MODDESTDIR)
@@ -154,21 +155,21 @@ clean:
 	rm -f emp_ematch.yacc.*
 
 q_atm.so: q_atm.c
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -shared -fpic -o q_atm.so q_atm.c -latm
+	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -shared -fpic -o q_atm.so q_atm.c -latm
 
 m_xt.so: m_xt.c
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -shared -fpic -o m_xt.so m_xt.c $$($(PKG_CONFIG) xtables --cflags --libs)
+	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -shared -fpic -o m_xt.so m_xt.c $$($(PKG_CONFIG) xtables --cflags --libs)
 
 m_xt_old.so: m_xt_old.c
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -shared -fpic -o m_xt_old.so m_xt_old.c $$($(PKG_CONFIG) xtables --cflags --libs)
+	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -shared -fpic -o m_xt_old.so m_xt_old.c $$($(PKG_CONFIG) xtables --cflags --libs)
 
 em_ipset.o: CFLAGS += $$($(PKG_CONFIG) xtables --cflags)
 
 %.yacc.c: %.y
-	$(YACC) $(YACCFLAGS) -o $@ $<
+	$(QUIET_YACC)$(YACC) $(YACCFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
 %.lex.c: %.l
-	$(LEX) $(LEXFLAGS) -o$@ $<
+	$(QUIET_LEX)$(LEX) $(LEXFLAGS) -o$@ $<
 
 # our lexer includes the header from yacc, so make sure
 # we don't attempt to compile it before the header has
diff --git a/tipc/Makefile b/tipc/Makefile
index bc5ecfd3..868d13ab 100644
--- a/tipc/Makefile
+++ b/tipc/Makefile
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ endif
 all: $(TARGETS) $(LIBS)
 
 tipc: $(TIPCOBJ)
+	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) -o $@
 
 install: all
 	install -m 0755 $(TARGETS) $(DESTDIR)$(SBINDIR)