Reply to my own thread!

I solved my problem by using QMAKE_EXTRA_COMPILER instead and treating the lint program as a separate compiler
Qt Code: 
  1. mylint.output = ${QMAKE_FILE_BASE}.lint
  2. mylint.input = SOURCES
  3. mylint.CONFIG = no_link
  4. mylint.commands = llint -os ${QMAKE_FILE_OUT} $${mylint_include_path} ${QMAKE_FILE_NAME}
  5. QMAKE_EXTRA_COMPILERS += mylint 
  6.  
  7. linttarget.target = lint
  8. linttarget.depends = $$lint_targets  # computed above (see original post)
  9. QMAKE_EXTRA_TARGETS += linttarget
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It ain't pretty, but it works. I now have an extra make target called lint that depends on fileone.lint filetwo.lint filethree.lint

Those in turn are generated by the extra compiler that invokes lint on each source.

I still would like to have a finer control on things like the include paths but without 3 or 4 weeks to dive into the guts of qmake, this works for me. Hopefully it helps someone else.

-Mic