diff --git a/.github/workflows/CI-unixish-docker.yml b/.github/workflows/CI-unixish-docker.yml
index d106114c2de..a2013b439f9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/CI-unixish-docker.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/CI-unixish-docker.yml
@@ -116,11 +116,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build test
         run: |
           export PATH="/usr/lib/ccache:/usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec:$PATH"
-          make -j$(nproc) testrunner HAVE_RULES=yes CXXOPTS="-w"
+          make -j$(nproc) HAVE_RULES=yes CXXOPTS="-w" testrunner
 
       - name: Run test
         run: |
-          make -j$(nproc) check HAVE_RULES=yes
+          make -j$(nproc) HAVE_RULES=yes check
 
       # requires python3
       - name: Run extra tests
diff --git a/.github/workflows/CI-unixish.yml b/.github/workflows/CI-unixish.yml
index a55b93ea461..93b1ed4a04e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/CI-unixish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/CI-unixish.yml
@@ -417,11 +417,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build test
         run: |
           export PATH="/usr/lib/ccache:/usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec:$PATH"
-          make -j$(nproc) testrunner HAVE_RULES=yes
+          make -j$(nproc) HAVE_RULES=yes testrunner
 
       - name: Run test
         run: |
-          make -j$(nproc) check HAVE_RULES=yes
+          make -j$(nproc) HAVE_RULES=yes check
 
       # requires "gnu-sed" installed on macos
       - name: Run extra tests
@@ -609,7 +609,7 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           export PATH="/usr/lib/ccache:/usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec:$PATH"
           # compile with verification and ast matchers
-          make -j$(nproc) -s CXXOPTS="-g -O2 -w" CPPOPTS="-DCHECK_INTERNAL -DHAVE_BOOST" MATCHCOMPILER=yes VERIFY=1
+          make -j$(nproc) CXXOPTS="-g -O2 -w" CPPOPTS="-DCHECK_INTERNAL -DHAVE_BOOST" MATCHCOMPILER=yes VERIFY=1
 
       - name: CMake
         run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/coverage.yml b/.github/workflows/coverage.yml
index 3b41862ba93..c515157cde5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/coverage.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/coverage.yml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Compile instrumented
         run: |
           export PATH="/usr/lib/ccache:/usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec:$PATH"
-          make -j$(nproc) all CXXOPTS="-g -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage" HAVE_RULES=yes
+          make -j$(nproc) CXXOPTS="-g -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage" HAVE_RULES=yes all
 
       - name: Run instrumented tests
         run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/scriptcheck.yml b/.github/workflows/scriptcheck.yml
index dee9358c30c..a900020f49a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/scriptcheck.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/scriptcheck.yml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: build cppcheck
         run: |
           export PATH="/usr/lib/ccache:/usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec:$PATH"
-          make -j$(nproc) -s CXXOPTS="-w"
+          make -j$(nproc) CXXOPTS="-w"
           strip -s ./cppcheck
 
   scriptcheck:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/selfcheck.yml b/.github/workflows/selfcheck.yml
index bff9cb09b96..ea242514f72 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/selfcheck.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/selfcheck.yml
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ jobs:
           export PATH="/usr/lib/ccache:/usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec:$PATH"
           # valgrind cannot handle DWARF 5 yet so force version 4
           # work around performance regression with -inline-deferral
-          make -j$(nproc) -s CXXOPTS="-O2 -w -gdwarf-4" CPPOPTS="-DHAVE_BOOST -mllvm -inline-deferral" MATCHCOMPILER=yes
+          make -j$(nproc) CXXOPTS="-O2 -w -gdwarf-4" CPPOPTS="-DHAVE_BOOST -mllvm -inline-deferral" MATCHCOMPILER=yes
         env:
           CC: clang-14
           CXX: clang++-14
diff --git a/.github/workflows/valgrind.yml b/.github/workflows/valgrind.yml
index 6da798b0b58..4c2d51acb38 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/valgrind.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/valgrind.yml
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build test
         run: |
           export PATH="/usr/lib/ccache:/usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec:$PATH"
-          CXXOPTS="-O1 -g -w" CPPOPTS="-DHAVE_BOOST" make -j$(nproc) testrunner HAVE_RULES=yes MATCHCOMPILER=yes
+          make -j$(nproc) CXXOPTS="-O1 -g -w" CPPOPTS="-DHAVE_BOOST" HAVE_RULES=yes MATCHCOMPILER=yes testrunner
 
       - name: Run valgrind
         run: |