Output of on "recipe" in arguments of subsequent recipes?

[Jack Bates]

I am struggling to use the standard output of one make "recipe" in 
arguments of subsequent recipes, e.g. something like:

> school:
>   HOST=$(shell php /usr/share/cacti/cli/add_device.php \
>     --description=school \
>     --ip=172.23.0.1 \
>     --template=1 | sed -n 's/Success - new device-id: (\([0-9]\+\))/\1/p')
>
>   php /usr/share/cacti/cli/add_tree.php \
>     --type=node \
>     --node-type=host \
>     --tree-id=$(DEFAULT_TREE) \
>     --host-id=$(HOST)
>
>   php /usr/share/cacti/cli/add_graphs.php \
>     --graph-type=ds \
>     --graph-template-id=$(TRAFFIC) \
>     --host-id=$(HOST) \
>     --snmp-query-id=$(INTERFACE_STATISTICS) \
>     --snmp-query-type-id=$(IN_OUT_BITS) \
>     --snmp-field=ifOperStatus \
>     --snmp-value=Up

I intend to assign the standard output to a variable ("HOST") then use 
this variable in arguments of subsequent recipes. I have some idea why 
this fails: "HOST=..." is evaluated by the shell, not by Make. How to do 
it correctly?

Also Make normally fails when a recipe exits with nonzero status. I want 
this behavior, but the $(shell ...) function prevents it?

Thanks for any advice!