We should apply this to the the scaladoc settings, too.

I support this change, as it will reduce the friction for people using the forthcoming support for Java Modules in Scala 2.13. They'll be learning about --module-path, etc, from Java-oriented tutorials.

It is worth discussing alternatives, though, e.g smart usage help.

Replace:

⚡ scalac --class-path foo
scalac error: bad option: '--class-path'
  scalac -help  gives more information

With

⚡ scalac --class-path foo
scalac error: bad option: '--class-path' (did you mean -classpath`)
  scalac -help  gives more information

In the same spirit as:

⚡ java -XX:UseCH -version
Unrecognized VM option 'UseCH'
Did you mean '(+/-)UseCHA'? Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine.
Error: A fatal exception has occurred. Program will exit.

That would be a useful change in and of itself.

So assuming we had that, what is better?

Updated scaladoc.

Is this too much?

⚡ scalac --class-path foo --encoding UTF-8
scalac error: bad options: '--class-path' and '--encoding' (did you mean '-classpath' and '-encoding')
Try
  scalac -classpath foo -encoding UTF-8
or  scalac -help  for more information

I like the improved usability with the abbreviations. I'm not that worried about the fragmentation because the alternative spelling is easily discovered. If I don't hear strong objections by June 8, I intend to merge as-is. (cc @retronym)

👍, aligning with JEP 293 and with good Unix practice is worth the fragmentation. We could wait a good long time before removing the old versions (not til Scala 3.x, I guess, if ever).

@taku0 hi, you still around? this could make M5; can you rebase?

Rebased

thank you @taku0!