prerequisite staleness criteria

[Lawrence, Lynne]

Folks,

Is there a way, with GNU make, to alter the criteria it uses to test
whether a prerequisite is stale?  

For instance, when determining whether to copy a file from a build
directory to an install directory it would be convenient to copy only if
the file checksums differ, regardless of whether the file in the build
directory is newer.

Is this possible?

Thanks for any help,

Lynne Lawrence
QSS/USCG