diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 5d06a947b..0b6c119df 100755
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ require_relative "rake.d/config"
 
 read_config
 
+$verbose      = ENV['V'].to_bool
+$action_width = 12
+
 $build_system_modules = {}
 $have_gtest           = (c(:GTEST_TYPE) == "system") || (c(:GTEST_TYPE) == "internal")
 $gtest_apps           = []
@@ -407,7 +410,7 @@ namespace :translations do
       end
     end
 
-    puts "  CREATE po/#{locale}.po"
+    puts_action "create", "po/#{locale}.po"
     File.open "po/#{locale}.po", "w" do |out|
       now           = Time.now
       email         = ENV['EMAIL']
@@ -584,7 +587,7 @@ EOT
     task task_name do
       FileList["po/*.po", "doc/man/po4a/po/*.po"].each do |name|
         command = "msgfmt --statistics -o /dev/null #{name} 2>&1"
-        if verbose
+        if $verbose
           runq "msgfmt", name, command, :allow_failure => true
         else
           puts "#{name} : " + `#{command}`.split(/\n/).first
@@ -758,7 +761,7 @@ end
 # Cleaning tasks
 desc "Remove all compiled files"
 task :clean do
-  puts "   CLEAN"
+  puts_action "clean"
 
   patterns = %w{
     **/*.a
@@ -789,7 +792,7 @@ task :clean do
   remove_files_by_patterns patterns
 
   if Dir.exists? $dependency_dir
-    puts "  rm -rf #{$dependency_dir}" if verbose
+    puts_vaction "rm -rf", "#{$dependency_dir}"
     FileUtils.rm_rf $dependency_dir
   end
 end
diff --git a/rake.d/helpers.rb b/rake.d/helpers.rb
index e3bd5bee1..f4d712f9a 100644
--- a/rake.d/helpers.rb
+++ b/rake.d/helpers.rb
@@ -13,6 +13,20 @@ def puts(message)
   }
 end
 
+def puts_action(action, target=nil)
+  msg  = sprintf "%*s", $action_width, action.gsub(/ +/, '_').upcase
+  msg += " #{target}" if target && !target.empty?
+  puts msg
+end
+
+def puts_qaction(action, target=nil)
+  puts_action(action, target) unless $verbose
+end
+
+def puts_vaction(action, target=nil)
+  puts_action(action, target) if $verbose
+end
+
 def error(message)
   puts message
   exit 1
@@ -65,27 +79,14 @@ ensure
   end
 end
 
-def puts_runq action, target
-  return if verbose
-
-  msg  = sprintf "%12s", action.gsub(/ +/, '_').upcase
-  msg += " #{target}" if target && !target.empty?
-
-  puts msg
-end
-
 def runq(action, target, cmdline, options = {})
-  verbose = ENV['V'].to_bool
-  puts_runq action, target
-  run cmdline, options.clone.merge(:dont_echo => !verbose)
+  puts_qaction action, target
+  run cmdline, options.clone.merge(:dont_echo => !$verbose)
 end
 
 def runq_git(msg, cmdline, options = {})
-  verbose = ENV['V'].to_bool
-  sub_cmd = cmdline.split(/\s+/)[0]
-  msg     = "     GIT #{sub_cmd.upcase} #{msg}"
-  puts msg if !verbose
-  $git_mutex.synchronize { run "git #{cmdline}", options.clone.merge(:dont_echo => !verbose) }
+  puts_qaction "git", cmdline.split(/\s+/)[0].upcase + " #{msg}" 
+  $git_mutex.synchronize { run "git #{cmdline}", options.clone.merge(:dont_echo => !$verbose) }
 end
 
 def ensure_dir dir
@@ -167,10 +168,8 @@ def install_data(destination, *files)
 end
 
 def remove_files_by_patterns patterns
-  verbose = ENV['V'].to_bool
-
   patterns.collect { |pattern| FileList[pattern].to_a }.flatten.uniq.select { |file_name| File.exists? file_name }.each do |file_name|
-    puts "      rm #{file_name}" if verbose
+    puts_vaction "rm", file_name
     File.unlink file_name
   end
 end
diff --git a/rake.d/pch.rb b/rake.d/pch.rb
index e86cfdc34..56cd3ab08 100644
--- a/rake.d/pch.rb
+++ b/rake.d/pch.rb
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ PCH status: <%= c?(:USE_PRECOMPILED_HEADERS) ? "enabled" : "disabled" %>
     if @verbose
       verb = @config_file.exist? ? "rescan" : "scan"
     else
-      verb = "%12s" % [(@config_file.exist? ? "rescan" : "scan").upcase]
+      verb = "%*s" % [$action_width, (@config_file.exist? ? "rescan" : "scan").upcase]
     end
     puts "#{verb} pch candidates (total=#{@users.size}, #{file_types(@users.keys)})"
     @users.each_pair { |k,v| scan_user(k,v) }
@@ -515,7 +515,7 @@ PCH status: <%= c?(:USE_PRECOMPILED_HEADERS) ? "enabled" : "disabled" %>
       h = options.fetch(:htrace, nil) ? 't' : '-'
       u = options.fetch(:user, nil) ? 'u' : '-'
       p = options.fetch(:precompile, nil) ? 'p' : '-'
-      puts "%c%c%c %8s %s" % [h, u, p, action.gsub(/ +/, '_').upcase, subject]
+      puts "%c%c%c %*s %s" % [h, u, p, $action_width - 4, action.gsub(/ +/, '_').upcase, subject]
     end
     htrace = options.fetch(:htrace, nil)
     return execute(command, options) unless htrace
@@ -616,7 +616,7 @@ PCH status: <%= c?(:USE_PRECOMPILED_HEADERS) ? "enabled" : "disabled" %>
   @extension = c?(:USE_CLANG) ? ".pch" : ".gch"
 
   # Cache global verbose flag.
-  @verbose = ENV['V'].to_bool
+  @verbose = $verbose
 
   #  Each pch file must be unambiguous for simple scanning techniques.
   #  The scanner needs to know the string of a pch file as it is used in