diff -up desktop-file-utils-0.13/src/install.c.short-option desktop-file-utils-0.13/src/install.c
--- desktop-file-utils-0.13/src/install.c.short-option	2007-08-15 21:14:57.000000000 -0400
+++ desktop-file-utils-0.13/src/install.c	2007-08-15 21:17:06.000000000 -0400
@@ -430,7 +430,9 @@ parse_options_callback (const gchar  *op
                         GError      **error)
 {
   /* skip "--" */
-  option_name += 2;
+  option_name++;
+  if (*option_name == '-')
+    option_name++;
 
   if (strcmp (OPTION_VENDOR, option_name) == 0)
     {
@@ -480,7 +482,8 @@ parse_options_callback (const gchar  *op
                                               g_strdup (value));
     }
 
-  else if (strcmp (OPTION_MODE, option_name) == 0)
+  else if (strcmp (OPTION_MODE, option_name) == 0 ||
+           strcmp ("m", option_name) == 0)
     {
       unsigned long ul;
       char *end;