Question

For example I have

make test
# do other stuff

‘make test’ runs some unit tests and will exit with success or error. How can I terminate the entire script and display a message if make test aborts with an error?

Answer 1

make test || exit $?

In the general case, set -e forces the script to abort on any error; but this is frequently overkill, as you have to guard against insignificant errors.