Is it possible to change the default file encoding?

Question

I have just learned that the "file.encoding" system property should be treated as read-only.
(http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/bugParade/bugs/4163515.html)
I am using this property to tell javac that the command arguments file has some other encoding than the system deafult, like this:
javac -J-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 @files-to-compile.lst
On windows xp with us english locale it worked for all the SDK releases I checked, but for Windows 2000 Japanese Edition only one of the J2SDK 1.4.1 releases worked.
My question is: is there an acceptable way to tell the JVM what the default encoding is? Or inform javac about the encoding of the argument file?
The reason for having a UTF-8 encoded javac argument list file is that our application generates Java source files that can have unicode characters in their names. Seemingly Windows supports unicode file names so I did not want to restrict file names to those supported by the system encoding.

Answer 1

Use javac's "-encoding" option.
$ javac 
Usage: javac <options> <source files>
where possible options include:
  -g                        Generate all debugging info
  -g:none                   Generate no debugging info
  -g:{lines,vars,source}    Generate only some debugging info
  -nowarn                   Generate no warnings
  -verbose                  Output messages about what the compiler is doing
  -deprecation              Output source locations where deprecated APIs are used
  -classpath <path>         Specify where to find user class files
  -sourcepath <path>        Specify where to find input source files
  -bootclasspath <path>     Override location of bootstrap class files
  -extdirs <dirs>           Override location of installed extensions
  -d <directory>            Specify where to place generated class files
  -encoding <encoding>      Specify character encoding used by source files
  -source <release>         Provide source compatibility with specified release
  -target <release>         Generate class files for specific VM version
  -help                     Print a synopsis of standard options