diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 671a6f1222ffb9..bccdc9afa054ab 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -99,19 +99,39 @@ test/gc/node_modules/weak/build/Release/weakref.node: $(NODE_EXE)
 		--directory="$(shell pwd)/test/gc/node_modules/weak" \
 		--nodedir="$(shell pwd)"
 
-build-addons: $(NODE_EXE)
-	rm -rf test/addons/doc-*/
+# Implicitly depends on $(NODE_EXE), see the build-addons rule for rationale.
+test/addons/.docbuildstamp: doc/api/addons.markdown
+	$(RM) -r test/addons/doc-*/
 	$(NODE) tools/doc/addon-verify.js
-	$(foreach dir, \
-			$(sort $(dir $(wildcard test/addons/*/*.gyp))), \
-			$(NODE) deps/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp rebuild \
-					--directory="$(shell pwd)/$(dir)" \
-					--nodedir="$(shell pwd)" && ) echo "build done"
+	touch $@
+
+ADDONS_BINDING_GYPS := \
+	$(filter-out test/addons/doc-*/binding.gyp, \
+		$(wildcard test/addons/*/binding.gyp))
+
+# Implicitly depends on $(NODE_EXE), see the build-addons rule for rationale.
+test/addons/.buildstamp: $(ADDONS_BINDING_GYPS) | test/addons/.docbuildstamp
+	# Cannot use $(wildcard test/addons/*/) here, it's evaluated before
+	# embedded addons have been generated from the documentation.
+	for dirname in test/addons/*/; do \
+		$(NODE) deps/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp rebuild \
+			--directory="$$PWD/$$dirname" \
+			--nodedir="$$PWD"; \
+	done
+	touch $@
+
+# .buildstamp and .docbuildstamp need $(NODE_EXE) but cannot depend on it
+# directly because it calls make recursively.  The parent make cannot know
+# if the subprocess touched anything so it pessimistically assumes that
+# .buildstamp and .docbuildstamp are out of date and need a rebuild.
+# Just goes to show that recursive make really is harmful...
+# TODO(bnoordhuis) Force rebuild after gyp or node-gyp update.
+build-addons: $(NODE_EXE) test/addons/.buildstamp
 
 test-gc: all test/gc/node_modules/weak/build/Release/weakref.node
 	$(PYTHON) tools/test.py --mode=release gc
 
-test-build: all build-addons
+test-build: | all build-addons
 
 test-all: test-build test/gc/node_modules/weak/build/Release/weakref.node
 	$(PYTHON) tools/test.py --mode=debug,release
@@ -119,8 +139,9 @@ test-all: test-build test/gc/node_modules/weak/build/Release/weakref.node
 test-all-valgrind: test-build
 	$(PYTHON) tools/test.py --mode=debug,release --valgrind
 
-test-ci:
-	$(PYTHON) tools/test.py -p tap --logfile test.tap --mode=release message parallel sequential
+test-ci: | build-addons
+	$(PYTHON) tools/test.py -p tap --logfile test.tap --mode=release \
+		addons message parallel sequential
 
 test-release: test-build
 	$(PYTHON) tools/test.py --mode=release
diff --git a/test/addons/.gitignore b/test/addons/.gitignore
index ff6b007943190d..bde1cf3ab9662b 100644
--- a/test/addons/.gitignore
+++ b/test/addons/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+.buildstamp
+.docbuildstamp
 Makefile
 *.Makefile
 *.mk
diff --git a/tools/doc/addon-verify.js b/tools/doc/addon-verify.js
index f87cfecdf5fbb4..4d1aaab3cc75a6 100644
--- a/tools/doc/addon-verify.js
+++ b/tools/doc/addon-verify.js
@@ -25,12 +25,9 @@ for (var i = 0; i < tokens.length; i++) {
   var token = tokens[i];
   if (token.type === 'heading') {
     if (files && Object.keys(files).length !== 0) {
-      verifyFiles(files, function(err) {
-        if (err)
-          console.log(err);
-        else
-          console.log('done');
-      });
+      verifyFiles(files,
+                  console.log.bind(null, 'wrote'),
+                  function(err) { if (err) throw err; });
     }
     files = {};
   } else if (token.type === 'code') {
@@ -51,7 +48,7 @@ function once(fn) {
   };
 }
 
-function verifyFiles(files, callback) {
+function verifyFiles(files, onprogress, ondone) {
   var dir = path.resolve(verifyDir, 'doc-' + id++);
 
   files = Object.keys(files).map(function(name) {
@@ -78,17 +75,19 @@ function verifyFiles(files, callback) {
   fs.mkdir(dir, function() {
     // Ignore errors
 
+    var done = once(ondone);
     var waiting = files.length;
-    for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++)
-      fs.writeFile(files[i].path, files[i].content, next);
+    files.forEach(function(file) {
+      fs.writeFile(file.path, file.content, function(err) {
+        if (err)
+          return done(err);
 
-    var done = once(callback);
-    function next(err) {
-      if (err)
-        return done(err);
+        if (onprogress)
+          onprogress(file.path);
 
-      if (--waiting === 0)
-        done();
-    }
+        if (--waiting === 0)
+          done();
+      });
+    });
   });
 }