diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3d23aa22d..4b0efb3d4 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ option(NS3_SQLITE "Build with SQLite support" ON)
 option(NS3_STATIC "Build a static ns-3 library and link it against executables"
        OFF
 )
+option(NS3_VERBOSE "Print additional build system messages" OFF)
 option(NS3_VISUALIZER "Build visualizer module" OFF)
 option(NS3_WARNINGS "Enable compiler warnings" ON)
 option(NS3_WARNINGS_AS_ERRORS
diff --git a/buildsupport/custom_modules/ns3_contributions.cmake b/buildsupport/custom_modules/ns3_contributions.cmake
index 1e9d3587b..f604b1816 100644
--- a/buildsupport/custom_modules/ns3_contributions.cmake
+++ b/buildsupport/custom_modules/ns3_contributions.cmake
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ macro(process_contribution contribution_list)
   foreach(contribname ${contribution_list})
     set(folder "contrib/${contribname}")
     if(EXISTS ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/${folder}/CMakeLists.txt)
+        message(STATUS "Processing ${folder}")
       add_subdirectory(${folder})
     else()
       message(
diff --git a/buildsupport/custom_modules/ns3_module_macros.cmake b/buildsupport/custom_modules/ns3_module_macros.cmake
index 02baf232d..bb93366a0 100644
--- a/buildsupport/custom_modules/ns3_module_macros.cmake
+++ b/buildsupport/custom_modules/ns3_module_macros.cmake
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ macro(
   #ignore_pch
 )
   # cmake-format: on
-  message(STATUS "Processing ${folder}/${libname}")
 
   # Add library to a global list of libraries
   if("${folder}" MATCHES "src")
@@ -393,6 +392,9 @@ macro(
     LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/
     PUBLIC_HEADER DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}/ns3"
   )
+  if(${NS3_VERBOSE})
+    message(STATUS "Processed ${folder}/${libname}")
+  endif()
 endmacro()
 
 # cmake-format: off
diff --git a/buildsupport/macros_and_definitions.cmake b/buildsupport/macros_and_definitions.cmake
index ce990418b..3755d469b 100644
--- a/buildsupport/macros_and_definitions.cmake
+++ b/buildsupport/macros_and_definitions.cmake
@@ -698,6 +698,12 @@ macro(process_options)
     endif()
   endif()
 
+  if(${NS3_VERBOSE})
+    set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY TARGET_MESSAGES TRUE)
+  else()
+    set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY TARGET_MESSAGES OFF)
+  endif()
+
   set(ENABLE_VISUALIZER FALSE)
   if(${NS3_VISUALIZER})
     if((NOT ${NS3_PYTHON_BINDINGS}) OR (NOT ${Python3_FOUND}))
diff --git a/ns3 b/ns3
index 5758dd4ed..72355d3b5 100755
--- a/ns3
+++ b/ns3
@@ -80,23 +80,24 @@ def parse_args(argv):
                                   type=str, default=None)
 
     parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "asserts", "the asserts regardless of the compile mode")
-    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "logs", "the logs regardless of the compile mode")
-    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "tests", "the ns-3 tests")
-    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "examples", "the ns-3 examples")
-    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "static", "Build a single static library with all ns-3",
-                                       "Restore the shared libraries")
-    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "mpi", "the MPI support for distributed simulation")
     parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "des-metrics",
                                        "Logging all events in a json file with the name of the executable "
                                        "(which must call CommandLine::Parse(argc, argv)")
+    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "documentation", "documentation targets")
+    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "examples", "the ns-3 examples")
     parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "gcov", "code coverage analysis")
     parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "gtk", "GTK support in ConfigStore")
+    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "logs", "the logs regardless of the compile mode")
+    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "mpi", "the MPI support for distributed simulation")
+    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "tests", "the ns-3 tests")
+    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "sanitizers",
+                                       "address, memory leaks and undefined behavior sanitizers")
+    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "static", "Build a single static library with all ns-3",
+                                       "Restore the shared libraries")
+    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "verbose", "printing of additional build system messages")
     parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "warnings", "compiler warnings")
     parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "werror", "Treat compiler warnings as errors",
                                        "Treat compiler warnings as warnings")
-    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "documentation", "documentation targets")
-    parser_configure = on_off_argument(parser_configure, "sanitizers",
-                                       "address, memory leaks and undefined behavior sanitizers")
 
     parser_configure.add_argument('--enable-modules',
                                   help='List of modules to build (e.g. core;network;internet)',
@@ -411,18 +412,19 @@ def configure_cmake(cmake, args, current_cmake_cache_folder, current_cmake_gener
                 cmake_args.append("-DNS3_NATIVE_OPTIMIZATIONS=%s" % on_off((args.build_profile == "optimized")))
 
     options = (("ASSERT", "asserts"),
-               ("LOG", "logs"),
-               ("TESTS", "tests"),
-               ("EXAMPLES", "examples"),
                ("COVERAGE", "gcov"),
                ("DES_METRICS", "des_metrics"),
-               ("STATIC", "static"),
-               ("MPI", "mpi"),
+               ("DOCS", "documentation"),
+               ("EXAMPLES", "examples"),
                ("GTK3", "gtk"),
+               ("LOG", "logs"),
+               ("MPI", "mpi"),
+               ("SANITIZE", "sanitizers"),
+               ("STATIC", "static"),
+               ("TESTS", "tests"),
+               ("VERBOSE", "verbose"),
                ("WARNINGS", "warnings"),
                ("WARNINGS_AS_ERRORS", "werror"),
-               ("DOCS", "documentation"),
-               ("SANITIZE", "sanitizers")
                )
     for (cmake_flag, option_name) in options:
         arg = on_off_condition(args, cmake_flag, option_name)
@@ -531,7 +533,10 @@ def cmake_build(current_cmake_cache_folder, output, jobs, target=None, dry_run=F
                                             )
                      )
     if not dry_run:
-        subprocess.run(cmake_build_command.split(), cwd=current_cmake_cache_folder, stdout=output)
+        ret = subprocess.run(cmake_build_command.split(), cwd=current_cmake_cache_folder, stdout=output)
+        # In case of failure, exit prematurely with the return code from the build
+        if ret.returncode != 0:
+            exit(ret.returncode)
 
 
 def extract_cmakecache_settings(current_cmake_cache_folder):
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 0376862e3..c4736dad7 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ set(libs "${libs_to_build}")
 
 # Process the visualizer module first if enabled
 if(${ENABLE_VISUALIZER})
+  message(STATUS "Processing src/visualizer")
   add_subdirectory(visualizer)
   list(REMOVE_ITEM libs visualizer)
 endif()
@@ -9,6 +10,7 @@ endif()
 # Process subdirectories
 foreach(libname ${libs})
   if(EXISTS ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/${libname}/CMakeLists.txt)
+    message(STATUS "Processing src/${libname}")
     add_subdirectory(${libname})
   else()
     message(
diff --git a/utils/CMakeLists.txt b/utils/CMakeLists.txt
index 467ea6148..fffbd6d94 100644
--- a/utils/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/utils/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -24,14 +24,17 @@ set_runtime_outputdirectory(
   bench-simulator ${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/utils/ ""
 )
 
-add_executable(bench-packets bench-packets.cc)
-target_link_libraries(bench-packets ${libnetwork})
-set_runtime_outputdirectory(
-  bench-packets ${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/utils/ ""
-)
+if (network IN_LIST libs_to_build)
+  add_executable(bench-packets bench-packets.cc)
+  target_link_libraries(bench-packets ${libnetwork})
+  set_runtime_outputdirectory(
+    bench-packets ${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/utils/ ""
+  )
+
+  add_executable(print-introspected-doxygen print-introspected-doxygen.cc)
+  target_link_libraries(print-introspected-doxygen ${libnetwork})
+  set_runtime_outputdirectory(
+          print-introspected-doxygen ${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/utils/ ""
+  )
+endif()
 
-add_executable(print-introspected-doxygen print-introspected-doxygen.cc)
-target_link_libraries(print-introspected-doxygen ${ns3-libs})
-set_runtime_outputdirectory(
-  print-introspected-doxygen ${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/utils/ ""
-)
diff --git a/utils/tests/test-ns3.py b/utils/tests/test-ns3.py
index 4ab4c52f2..c090bf368 100644
--- a/utils/tests/test-ns3.py
+++ b/utils/tests/test-ns3.py
@@ -47,11 +47,24 @@ cmake_build_target_command = partial("cmake --build . -j {jobs} --target {target
 
 
 def run_ns3(args):
+    """
+    Runs the ns3 wrapper script with arguments
+    :param args: string containing arguments that will get split before calling ns3
+    :return: tuple containing (error code, stdout and stderr)
+    """
     return run_program(ns3_script, args, True)
 
 
 # Adapted from https://github.com/metabrainz/picard/blob/master/picard/util/__init__.py
 def run_program(program, args, python=False, cwd=ns3_path):
+    """
+    Runs a program with the given arguments and returns a tuple containing (error code, stdout and stderr)
+    :param program: program to execute (or python script)
+    :param args: string containing arguments that will get split before calling the program
+    :param python: flag indicating whether the program is a python script
+    :param cwd: working directory used that will be the root folder for the execution
+    :return: tuple containing (error code, stdout and stderr)
+    """
     if type(args) != str:
         raise Exception("args should be a string")
 
@@ -78,6 +91,11 @@ def run_program(program, args, python=False, cwd=ns3_path):
 
 
 def get_programs_list(build_status_script_path=usual_build_status_script):
+    """
+    Extracts the programs list from build-status.py
+    :param build_status_script_path: path containing build-status.py
+    :return: list of programs
+    """
     values = {}
     with open(build_status_script_path) as f:
         exec(f.read(), globals(), values)
@@ -85,25 +103,49 @@ def get_programs_list(build_status_script_path=usual_build_status_script):
 
 
 def get_libraries_list(lib_outdir=usual_lib_outdir):
+    """
+    Gets a list of built libraries
+    :param lib_outdir: path containing libraries
+    :return: list of built libraries
+    """
     return glob.glob(lib_outdir + '/*', recursive=True)
 
 
 def get_headers_list(outdir=usual_outdir):
+    """
+    Gets a list of header files
+    :param outdir: path containing headers
+    :return: list of headers
+    """
     return glob.glob(outdir + '/**/*.h', recursive=True)
 
 
-def read_c4che_entry(entry, c4cache_script_path=usual_c4che_script):
+def read_c4che_entry(entry, c4che_script_path=usual_c4che_script):
+    """
+    Read interesting entries from the c4che/_cache.py file
+    :param entry: entry to read from c4che/_cache.py
+    :param c4che_script_path: path containing _cache.py
+    :return: value of the requested entry
+    """
     values = {}
-    with open(c4cache_script_path) as f:
+    with open(c4che_script_path) as f:
         exec(f.read(), globals(), values)
     return values[entry]
 
 
 def get_test_enabled():
+    """
+    Check if tests are enabled in the c4che/_cache.py
+    :return: bool
+    """
     return read_c4che_entry("ENABLE_TESTS")
 
 
 def get_enabled_modules():
+    """
+    Check if tests are enabled in the c4che/_cache.py
+    :return: list of enabled modules (prefixed with 'ns3-')
+    """
     return read_c4che_entry("NS3_ENABLED_MODULES")
 
 
@@ -112,6 +154,9 @@ class NS3RunWafTargets(unittest.TestCase):
     cleaned_once = False
 
     def setUp(self):
+        """
+        Clean the default build directory, then configure and build ns-3 with waf
+        """
         if not NS3RunWafTargets.cleaned_once:
             NS3RunWafTargets.cleaned_once = True
             run_ns3("clean")
@@ -158,6 +203,9 @@ class NS3RunWafTargets(unittest.TestCase):
 
 class NS3CommonSettingsTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
+        """
+        Clean configuration/build artifacts before common commands
+        """
         super().setUp()
         # No special setup for common test cases other than making sure we are working on a clean directory
         run_ns3("clean")
@@ -180,12 +228,15 @@ class NS3CommonSettingsTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
 
 class NS3ConfigureBuildProfileTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
+        """
+        Clean configuration/build artifacts before testing configuration settings
+        """
         super().setUp()
         # No special setup for common test cases other than making sure we are working on a clean directory
         run_ns3("clean")
 
     def test_01_Debug(self):
-        return_code, stdout, stderr = run_ns3("configure -d debug")
+        return_code, stdout, stderr = run_ns3("configure -d debug --enable-verbose")
         self.assertEqual(return_code, 0)
         self.assertIn("Build profile                 : debug", stdout)
         self.assertIn("Build files have been written to", stdout)
@@ -206,7 +257,7 @@ class NS3ConfigureBuildProfileTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertIn("Build files have been written to", stdout)
 
     def test_03_Optimized(self):
-        return_code, stdout, stderr = run_ns3("configure -d optimized")
+        return_code, stdout, stderr = run_ns3("configure -d optimized --enable-verbose")
         self.assertEqual(return_code, 0)
         self.assertIn("Build profile                 : optimized", stdout)
         self.assertIn("Build files have been written to", stdout)
@@ -236,11 +287,21 @@ class NS3BaseTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     cleaned_once = False
 
     def config_ok(self, return_code, stdout):
+        """
+        Check if configuration for release mode worked normally
+        :param return_code: return code from CMake
+        :param stdout: output from CMake
+        """
         self.assertEqual(return_code, 0)
         self.assertIn("Build profile                 : release", stdout)
         self.assertIn("Build files have been written to", stdout)
 
     def setUp(self):
+        """
+        Clean configuration/build artifacts before testing configuration and build settings
+        After configuring the build as release,
+        check if configuration worked and check expected output files
+        """
         super().setUp()
 
         if os.path.exists(ns3rc_script):
@@ -250,7 +311,7 @@ class NS3BaseTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         if not NS3BaseTestCase.cleaned_once:
             NS3BaseTestCase.cleaned_once = True
             run_ns3("clean")
-            return_code, stdout, stderr = run_ns3("configure -d release")
+            return_code, stdout, stderr = run_ns3("configure -d release --enable-verbose")
             self.config_ok(return_code, stdout)
 
         # Check if build-status.py exists, then read to get list of executables
@@ -267,6 +328,9 @@ class NS3ConfigureTestCase(NS3BaseTestCase):
     cleaned_once = False
 
     def setUp(self):
+        """
+        Reuse cleaning/release configuration from NS3BaseTestCase if flag is cleaned
+        """
         if not NS3ConfigureTestCase.cleaned_once:
             NS3ConfigureTestCase.cleaned_once = True
             NS3BaseTestCase.cleaned_once = False
@@ -455,7 +519,7 @@ class NS3ConfigureTestCase(NS3BaseTestCase):
             self.assertEqual(stderr, stderr1)
 
         # Build target before using below
-        run_ns3("configure -d release")
+        run_ns3("configure -d release --enable-verbose")
         run_ns3("build scratch-simulator")
 
         # Run all cases and then check outputs
@@ -495,6 +559,9 @@ class NS3BuildBaseTestCase(NS3BaseTestCase):
     cleaned_once = False
 
     def setUp(self):
+        """
+        Reuse cleaning/release configuration from NS3BaseTestCase if flag is cleaned
+        """
         if not NS3BuildBaseTestCase.cleaned_once:
             NS3BuildBaseTestCase.cleaned_once = True
             NS3BaseTestCase.cleaned_once = False
@@ -525,7 +592,24 @@ class NS3BuildBaseTestCase(NS3BaseTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(return_code, 0)
         self.assertIn(cmake_build_project_command, stdout)
 
-    def test_05_TestVersionFile(self):
+    def test_05_BreakBuild(self):
+        # change an essential file to break the build
+        attribute_cc_path = os.sep.join([ns3_path, "src", "core", "model", "attribute.cc"])
+        attribute_cc_bak_path = attribute_cc_path + ".bak"
+        shutil.move(attribute_cc_path, attribute_cc_bak_path)
+
+        # build should break
+        return_code, stdout, stderr = run_ns3("build")
+        self.assertNotEqual(return_code, 0)
+
+        # move file back
+        shutil.move(attribute_cc_bak_path, attribute_cc_path)
+
+        # build should work again
+        return_code, stdout, stderr = run_ns3("build")
+        self.assertEqual(return_code, 0)
+
+    def test_06_TestVersionFile(self):
         version_file = os.sep.join([ns3_path, "VERSION"])
         with open(version_file, "w") as f:
             f.write("3-00\n")
@@ -565,7 +649,7 @@ class NS3BuildBaseTestCase(NS3BaseTestCase):
         # Reset flag to let it clean the build
         NS3BuildBaseTestCase.cleaned_once = False
 
-    def test_06_OutputDirectory(self):
+    def test_07_OutputDirectory(self):
         # Re-build to return to the original state
         return_code, stdout, stderr = run_ns3("build")
         self.ns3_libraries = get_libraries_list()
@@ -624,7 +708,7 @@ class NS3BuildBaseTestCase(NS3BaseTestCase):
         for library in libraries:
             self.assertTrue(os.path.exists(library))
 
-    def test_07_InstallationAndUninstallation(self):
+    def test_08_InstallationAndUninstallation(self):
         # Remove existing libraries from the previous step
         libraries = get_libraries_list()
         for library in libraries:
@@ -728,6 +812,10 @@ class NS3ExpectedUseTestCase(NS3BaseTestCase):
     cleaned_once = False
 
     def setUp(self):
+        """
+        Reuse cleaning/release configuration from NS3BaseTestCase if flag is cleaned
+        Here examples, tests and documentation are also enabled
+        """
         if not NS3ExpectedUseTestCase.cleaned_once:
             NS3ExpectedUseTestCase.cleaned_once = True
             NS3BaseTestCase.cleaned_once = False