i've added -R, --runcore options to parrot in r22284, with documentation and tests. see C<parrot --help> and C<perldoc docs/running.pod> for details.
next we need to decide what to do about the old options. when do we deprecate them? how do we migrate to the new syntax? etc. if you have ideas, let them be known by replying here. i suggest we migrate all existing code to the new options at once, and mark the old options as deprecated. however, i'd like to see the old options stay around for a while, perhaps with a runtime warning after the 0.5.0 release, a fatal error after 0.6.0, and removal in 0.7.0. those last two release numbers are flexible. your thoughts? ~jerry