Re^3: pp only to create executable when source has changed

[Athanasius]

Is that possible with make?

Yes. From Make_(software)#Behavior:

Make is typically used to build executable programs and libraries from source code. Generally though, any process that involves transforming a source file to a target result (by executing arbitrary commands) is applicable to Make.

Does it record the creation date of the source?

No, it doesn’t need to:

Make decides whether a target needs to be regenerated by comparing file modification times. This solves the problem of avoiding the building of files which are already up to date... (idem)

You can build GNU Make for various platforms, including Windows.

Hope that helps,