To put that another way: not all command-line applications follow the POSIX/GNU command-line conventions. [0][1][2] I agree that all new command-line applications should do so. It's annoying that Java uses java -version rather than java --version, and I can't see why they couldn't just add support for --version, as they wouldn't have to remove the existing -version.
> many people have decided that knowing all of these obscurities makes them smart, and they will look down on anyone who doesn't.
I don't think it's sysadmins who are pushing for this messy state of affairs, it's that various specific projects refuse to follow the POSIX conventions, presumably for reasons of backward compatibility/general resistance to change.
> many people have decided that knowing all of these obscurities makes them smart, and they will look down on anyone who doesn't.
I don't think it's sysadmins who are pushing for this messy state of affairs, it's that various specific projects refuse to follow the POSIX conventions, presumably for reasons of backward compatibility/general resistance to change.
[0] https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1...
[1] https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/Argument-...
[2] https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Command_002dLin...