diff --git a/build.lua b/build.lua
index 125bdc6..f892c3a 100755
--- a/build.lua
+++ b/build.lua
@@ -1,9 +1,23 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env lua5.2
 -- Initialization
 log = ""
+tA = {...}
+for k,v in ipairs(tA) do
+ if type(v) == "string" then
+  if v:sub(1,10) == "--cfgfile=" then
+   cfgfile = v:sub(11)
+  elseif v:sub(1,10) == "--modfile=" then
+   modfile = v:sub(11)
+  elseif v == "--quiet" then
+   quiet = true
+  end
+ end
+end
 oldprint=print
 function print(...)
- oldprint(...)
+ if not quiet then
+  oldprint(...)
+ end
  logline = ""
  if #{...} > 0 then
   if #{...} > 1 then
@@ -19,16 +33,6 @@ function print(...)
 end
 print("Initializing and reading configuration")
 ts={}
-tA = {...}
-for k,v in ipairs(tA) do
- if type(v) == "string" then
-  if v:sub(1,10) == "--cfgfile=" then
-   cfgfile = v:sub(11)
-  elseif v:sub(1,10) == "--modfile=" then
-   modfile = v:sub(11)
-  end
- end
-end
 ss=""
 cfgfile = cfgfile or "build.cfg"
 modfile = modfile or "modules.cfg"
@@ -117,7 +121,11 @@ if cfg.test == "yes" then
 print("Checking for errors...")
 err={pcall(load,ss)}
 if err[1] ~= true then
- print(table.unpack(err))
+ if quiet then
+  io.write(table.unpack(err),"\n")
+ else
+  print(table.unpack(err))
+ end
 else
  print("No errors detected by load()")
 end