>>Why can't this be fixed by using ``|| exit $?\n'' instead of ``\n'' as
>>the separator for the merged input fed to sh -e when using make -j ?

I was all set to argue against this (thinking still of the automatic
chdir ${.CURDIR} stuff), but on 2nd thoughts I don't see 
any great harm in it.

>I even suggested to use " &&\n"

I like this even better.

If we do the '&&\n', can we get rid of -e?  Its pretty useless anyway.

Thanks
--sjg