On earlier php versions the lint options on standalone php don't work (seg fault with 4.0.3pl1 and 4.0.4pl1)
On 4.0.5 and 4.0.6 this problem seems fixed but lint return not output at all, even if a parse error appears in php script.

script example : test.php
<?php
    echo "hello;
?>
(the second double quotes missing) 
So with :
$ php -l test.php
No output is return.

and of course with :
$ php -q test.php
I obtain a parse error string...

So is it a features or not really ? ;)