Automatic code testing in c upon execution

Question

each source file has a function:

unsigned char test(){
    //return true if tests succceed false otherwise
}

Everytime the sourcefile gets recompiled I want the test function of that file to be run on execution of the executable and if the tests return false to halt. However, I want only code whose test code hasnt been run since build.

I was thinking that I could use the makefile system to help with this problem since makefiles will only recompile changed code which is exactly what i want. Therefore, I was thinking of adding something to the command line arguments. I saw an example in which they used echo and date to add a time last modified. The code would write the time last modified to a save file on a successful execution of the test code with which it will compare to the next time.

Is there a better way? One that doesnt rely on make? At the least is there a way without relying on spefic unix commands? Lastly, even if that isnt possible, what would the command line to do the addition to the file look like.