diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/cfg/cfg.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/cfg/cfg.go
index 3b9f27e91d517e..eb9ef6459bd554 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/cfg/cfg.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/cfg/cfg.go
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ var (
 	BuildPkgdir            string                  // -pkgdir flag
 	BuildRace              bool                    // -race flag
 	BuildToolexec          []string                // -toolexec flag
+	BuildCheckError        bool                    // -checkerr flag
 	BuildToolchainName     string
 	BuildToolchainCompiler func() string
 	BuildToolchainLinker   func() string
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/work/action.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/work/action.go
index 44bb9f8c1e4a05..afd40da424e291 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/work/action.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/work/action.go
@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@ func (b *Builder) cacheAction(mode string, p *load.Package, f func() *Action) *A
 
 // AutoAction returns the "right" action for go build or go install of p.
 func (b *Builder) AutoAction(mode, depMode BuildMode, p *load.Package) *Action {
-	if p.Name == "main" {
+	if !cfg.BuildCheckError && p.Name == "main" {
 		return b.LinkAction(mode, depMode, p)
 	}
 	return b.CompileAction(mode, depMode, p)
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/work/build.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/work/build.go
index 3508d51fbb0452..f86ba0ebfcb4d4 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/work/build.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/work/build.go
@@ -247,6 +247,7 @@ func init() {
 
 	AddBuildFlags(CmdBuild, DefaultBuildFlags)
 	AddBuildFlags(CmdInstall, DefaultBuildFlags)
+	CmdInstall.Flag.BoolVar(&cfg.BuildCheckError, "checkerr", false, "set to true to validate only compilation errors and skip binary generation")
 	if cfg.Experiment != nil && cfg.Experiment.CoverageRedesign {
 		AddCoverFlags(CmdBuild, nil)
 		AddCoverFlags(CmdInstall, nil)