diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 9a8e2eecc3b..790af9bbc87 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -450,6 +450,7 @@
             <arg value="-noStdlib"/>
             <arg value="-mode"/>
             <arg value="builtins"/>
+            <arg value="-builtins"/>
         </java>
 
         <!-- Not used yet -->
diff --git a/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/jet/cli/jvm/K2JVMCompiler.java b/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/jet/cli/jvm/K2JVMCompiler.java
index c4609b8c8f7..2e6327ae50d 100644
--- a/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/jet/cli/jvm/K2JVMCompiler.java
+++ b/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/jet/cli/jvm/K2JVMCompiler.java
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ import org.jetbrains.jet.codegen.BuiltinToJavaTypesMapping;
 import org.jetbrains.jet.codegen.CompilationException;
 import org.jetbrains.jet.config.CompilerConfiguration;
 import org.jetbrains.jet.lang.BuiltinsScopeExtensionMode;
-import org.jetbrains.jet.lang.resolve.java.CompilerSpecialMode;
 import org.jetbrains.jet.utils.PathUtil;
 
 import java.io.File;
@@ -56,7 +55,6 @@ public class K2JVMCompiler extends CLICompiler<K2JVMCompilerArguments, K2JVMComp
     @Override
     @NotNull
     protected ExitCode doExecute(K2JVMCompilerArguments arguments, PrintingMessageCollector messageCollector, Disposable rootDisposable) {
-        CompilerSpecialMode mode = parseCompilerSpecialMode(arguments);
         CompilerConfiguration compilerConfiguration = createCompilerConfiguration(arguments);
 
         final List<String> argumentsSourceDirs = arguments.getSourceDirs();
@@ -71,7 +69,7 @@ public class K2JVMCompiler extends CLICompiler<K2JVMCompilerArguments, K2JVMComp
         }
 
         JetCoreEnvironment environment = JetCoreEnvironment.createCoreEnvironmentForJVM(rootDisposable, compilerConfiguration);
-        boolean builtins = mode == CompilerSpecialMode.BUILTINS;
+        boolean builtins = arguments.builtins;
         K2JVMCompileEnvironmentConfiguration configuration = new K2JVMCompileEnvironmentConfiguration(
                 environment, messageCollector, arguments.script,
                 builtins ? BuiltinsScopeExtensionMode.ONLY_STANDARD_CLASSES : BuiltinsScopeExtensionMode.ALL,
@@ -135,22 +133,6 @@ public class K2JVMCompiler extends CLICompiler<K2JVMCompilerArguments, K2JVMComp
         }
     }
 
-    @NotNull
-    private static CompilerSpecialMode parseCompilerSpecialMode(@NotNull K2JVMCompilerArguments arguments) {
-        if (arguments.mode == null) {
-            return CompilerSpecialMode.REGULAR;
-        }
-        else {
-            for (CompilerSpecialMode variant : CompilerSpecialMode.values()) {
-                if (arguments.mode.equalsIgnoreCase(variant.name().replaceAll("_", ""))) {
-                    return variant;
-                }
-            }
-        }
-        // TODO: report properly
-        throw new IllegalArgumentException("unknown compiler mode: " + arguments.mode);
-    }
-
 
     /**
      * Allow derived classes to add additional command line arguments
diff --git a/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/jet/cli/jvm/K2JVMCompilerArguments.java b/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/jet/cli/jvm/K2JVMCompilerArguments.java
index 8c008114adf..4a711ddaba2 100644
--- a/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/jet/cli/jvm/K2JVMCompilerArguments.java
+++ b/compiler/cli/src/org/jetbrains/jet/cli/jvm/K2JVMCompilerArguments.java
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ public class K2JVMCompilerArguments extends CompilerArguments {
     @Argument(value = "noJdkAnnotations", description = "don't include JDK external annotations into classpath")
     public boolean noJdkAnnotations;
 
+    @Argument(value = "builtins", description = "compile builtin classes (internal)")
+    public boolean builtins;
+
     @Deprecated
     @Argument(value = "stdlib", description = "Path to the stdlib.jar")
     public String stdlib;
diff --git a/compiler/tests/org/jetbrains/jet/codegen/forTestCompile/ForTestCompileBuiltins.java b/compiler/tests/org/jetbrains/jet/codegen/forTestCompile/ForTestCompileBuiltins.java
index 71dd44ab158..92a4bb7cf67 100644
--- a/compiler/tests/org/jetbrains/jet/codegen/forTestCompile/ForTestCompileBuiltins.java
+++ b/compiler/tests/org/jetbrains/jet/codegen/forTestCompile/ForTestCompileBuiltins.java
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ public class ForTestCompileBuiltins {
         @Override
         protected void doCompile(@NotNull File classesDir) throws Exception {
             ExitCode exitCode = new K2JVMCompiler().exec(
-                    System.err, "-output", classesDir.getPath(), "-src", "./compiler/frontend/src", "-noStdlib", "-mode", "builtins");
+                    System.err, "-output", classesDir.getPath(), "-src", "./compiler/frontend/src", "-noStdlib", "-mode", "builtins",
+                    "-builtins");
             if (exitCode != ExitCode.OK) {
                 throw new IllegalStateException("builtins compilation failed: " + exitCode);
             }