diff --git a/core/base_rules.mk b/core/base_rules.mk
index e69f73f..92cf58c 100644
--- a/core/base_rules.mk
+++ b/core/base_rules.mk
@@ -593,6 +593,36 @@
     $(eval ALL_MODULE_NAME_TAGS.$(tag) += $(LOCAL_MODULE)))
 
 ###########################################################
+## umbrella targets used to verify builds
+###########################################################
+check_build_target := $(LOCAL_CHECKED_MODULE)
+j_or_n :=
+ifneq (,$(filter EXECUTABLES SHARED_LIBRARIES STATIC_LIBRARIES,$(LOCAL_MODULE_CLASS)))
+j_or_n := native
+else
+ifneq (,$(filter JAVA_LIBRARIES APPS,$(LOCAL_MODULE_CLASS)))
+j_or_n := java
+# We don't want to verify the jni code when you just want to check the Java code.
+# See LOCAL_CHECKED_MODULE in build/core/java.mk
+ifneq (,$(strip $(all_java_sources)$(full_static_java_libs))$(filter true,$(LOCAL_SOURCE_FILES_ALL_GENERATED)))
+check_build_target := $(full_classes_compiled_jar)
+endif
+endif
+endif
+ifdef LOCAL_IS_HOST_MODULE
+h_or_t := host
+else
+h_or_t := target
+endif
+
+ifdef j_or_n
+$(j_or_n) $(j_or_n)-$(h_or_t) : $(check_build_target)
+ifneq (,$(filter $(LOCAL_MODULE_TAGS),tests))
+$(j_or_n)-$(h_or_t)-tests $(j_or_n)-tests $(h_or_t)-tests : $(check_build_target)
+endif
+endif
+
+###########################################################
 ## NOTICE files
 ###########################################################
 
diff --git a/core/main.mk b/core/main.mk
index 61c041f..2960b65 100644
--- a/core/main.mk
+++ b/core/main.mk
@@ -822,6 +822,21 @@
 )
 endif
 
+# umbrella targets to assit engineers in verifying builds
+.PHONY: java native java-host java-target native-host native-target \
+        java-host-tests java-target-tests native-host-tests native-target-tests \
+        java-tests native-tests host-tests target-tests
+# some synonyms
+.PHONY: host-java target-java host-native target-native \
+        target-java-tests target-native-tests
+host-java : java-host
+target-java : java-target
+host-native : native-host
+target-native : native-target
+target-java-tests : java-target-tests
+target-native-tests : native-target-tests
+
+
 .PHONY: lintall
 
 .PHONY: samplecode