[darrenf]

> OK, I know that Java also has mental parameter options like that ('-version', note the *single* hyphen followed by, gasp, a word!), but I just dismissed it as weird enterprise-ism.

I think "mental" is being too kind about java.

    $ java -version

and

    $ java --version

both work, their outputs are different, and `-version` goes to STDERR whereas `--version` goes to STDOUT.

[Spivak]

I'm gonna take a stab here and say that -version behaves in a BSD manner and --version behaves in a GNU manner.

[guappa]

It's just that if you pass "ersion" to --verbose it prints the version :D