MySQL configuration: when to use hyphen and when to use underscore

Question

In MySQL some configuration options use _ and some use -. Is there any way to easily identify when to use one versus the other?.

Answer 1

No.

It's just one of those things that happen when a team of people design a product.
Different conventions get used leading to inconsistency.

See here: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/mysqld-option-tables.html

And scroll to the options starting with ssl, you'll see what I mean.