[cmake] Using CMake with GNU Make: How can I see the exact commands?

cmake --build . --verbose

On Linux and with Makefile generation, this is likely just calling make VERBOSE=1 under the hood, but cmake --build can be more portable for your build system, e.g. working across OSes or if you decide to do e.g. Ninja builds later on:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build . --verbose

Its documentation also suggests that it is equivalent to VERBOSE=1:

--verbose, -v

Enable verbose output - if supported - including the build commands to be executed.

This option can be omitted if VERBOSE environment variable or CMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE cached variable is set.