diff --git a/Pmodules/libpbuild.bash b/Pmodules/libpbuild.bash
index 2dbc065..20c84ca 100644
--- a/Pmodules/libpbuild.bash
+++ b/Pmodules/libpbuild.bash
@@ -634,14 +634,30 @@ pbuild::post_compile() {
 	:
 }
 pbuild::compile() {
-	local -- v_save="$V"
-	unset V
+	local -- tmp_v="$V"
+	local -- restore='no'
+	local -- tmp_verbose=''
+	if [[ -v VERBOSE ]]; then
+		tmp_verbose="${VERBOSE}"
+		restore='yes'
+	fi
+	if (( opt_verbose > 0 )); then
+		declare -g V=1
+		declare -g VERBOSE=1
+	else
+		unset V
+	fi
 	(( JOBS == 0 )) && JOBS=$(_get_num_cores)
-	/bin/bash -c "${make} -j${JOBS} -e" || \
+	std::info "CC=$CC"
+	std::info "CXX=$CXX"
+	/bin/bash -c "CC=$CC CXX=$CXX ${make} -j${JOBS} -e" || \
 		std::die 3 \
 			 "%s " "${module_name}/${module_version}:" \
 			 "compilation failed!"
-	declare -g V="${v_save}"
+	declare -g V="${tmp_v}"
+	if [[ "${restore}" == 'yes' ]]; then
+		VERBOSE="${tmp_verbose}"
+	fi
 }
 
 ##############################################################################
@@ -1538,7 +1554,7 @@ _build_module() {
 			[[ -n "${pkg_version}" ]] || \
 				die_sub_package_version_missing "${yaml}"
 
-			[[ "${opt_verbose}" == 'yes' ]] && \
+			(( opt_verbose > 0 )) && \
 				pkg_build_args+=( '--verbose' )
 			[[ "${opt_debug}" == 'yes' ]] && \
 				pkg_build_args+=( '--debug' )
diff --git a/Pmodules/modbuild.in b/Pmodules/modbuild.in
index 434caa6..7dd101e 100644
--- a/Pmodules/modbuild.in
+++ b/Pmodules/modbuild.in
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ declare -i      opt_jobs=0
 declare         opt_update_modulefiles='no'
 declare		opt_cleanup_modulefiles='no'
 declare         opt_system=''
-declare         opt_verbose='no'
+declare -i      opt_verbose=0
 # array collecting all modules specified on the command line via '--with=module'
 declare -a      opt_with_modules=()
 declare -A	opt_with_dict=()
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ parse_args() {
 			;;
 		-v | --verbose )
 			trap 'echo "$BASH_COMMAND"' DEBUG
-                        opt_verbose='yes'
+                        (( opt_verbose+=1 ))
 			echo='echo'
 			;;
 		--debug )
@@ -1526,7 +1526,7 @@ parse_args "$@"
 #
 declare -r logfile="${BUILDBLOCK_DIR}/pbuild.log"
 ${rm} -f "${logfile}"
-if [[ "${opt_verbose}" == 'yes' ]]; then
+if (( opt_verbose > 0 )); then
 	exec  > >(${tee} -a "${logfile}")
 else
 	exec > >(${cat} >> "${logfile}")