/sys$common/syshlp/helplib.hlb MMS, Qualifiers, /ACTION  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    /ACTION (D)
    /NOACTION

    Controls whether MMS executes the action lines in a description
    file. These qualifiers affect only the execution of action lines,
    not the behavior of MMS.

    The /ACTION qualifier displays action lines as they are invoked.
    MMS does not display any information on dependencies.

    If you specify /NOACTION, MMS does not execute the action lines,
    but instead writes them to an output file (either SYS$OUTPUT
    or the file specified by the /OUTPUT qualifier). /NOACTION is
    useful for determining what actions MMS would have executed had
    the system actually been built. You can also use /NOACTION in
    combination with the /OUTPUT qualifier to generate a command
    procedure (see the description of the /OUTPUT qualifier).

    /NOACTION overrides the Silent action-line prefix - @. Note that
    the $(MMS) reserved macro is executed even if you specify
    /NOACTION. Therefore, you can see what actions MMS would have
    executed in the subprocess.

    /NOACTION does not affect the /AUDIT qualifier that you can
    provide with references to CDD records. That is, if you suppress
    the execution of action lines with the /NOACTION qualifier,
    the remark you supply with /AUDIT is still written to the CDD
    history file.