Catching the exit status into a make variable

[Karl]

Hello everybody,
I have to convert an OpusMake file to gnu make.
After lines like

%.obj : %.cpp
  - $(COMPILER) ...

there is a variable $(STATUS) which contains the exit status.
Dependent on it, the $(EDITOR) is called to allow the user to
correct the errors in the source, and then a line "%abort" is
called to terminate the make run.

Being new to gnu make, I did not found the equivalent in the gnu
make documentation available to me.
Any help is appreciated. Thank you.
- Karl