diff --git a/doc/manuals/chapters/running.adoc b/doc/manuals/chapters/running.adoc
index 988b84d..8665395 100644
--- a/doc/manuals/chapters/running.adoc
+++ b/doc/manuals/chapters/running.adoc
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 === SYNOPSIS
 
-*osmo-msc* [-h|-V] [-d 'DBGMASK'] [-D] [-c 'CONFIGFILE'] [-s] [-T] [-e 'LOGLEVEL'] [-l 'DATABASE']
+*osmo-msc* [-h|-V] [-d 'DBGMASK'] [-D] [-c 'CONFIGFILE'] [-s] [-T] [-e 'LOGLEVEL']
 
 === OPTIONS
 
@@ -35,8 +35,6 @@
 	Set the global log level for logging to stderr. This has mostly
 	been deprecated by VTY based logging configuration, see
 	<<logging>> for more information.
-*-l, --database 'DATABASE'*::
-	Specify the file name of the SQLite3 database to use as SMS storage
 
 
 === Multiple instances
diff --git a/src/osmo-msc/msc_main.c b/src/osmo-msc/msc_main.c
index 07d76dd..9657c71 100644
--- a/src/osmo-msc/msc_main.c
+++ b/src/osmo-msc/msc_main.c
@@ -127,7 +127,6 @@
 	printf("  -D --daemonize             Fork the process into a background daemon.\n");
 	printf("  -c --config-file filename  The config file to use.\n");
 	printf("  -s --disable-color\n");
-	printf("  -l --database db-name      The database to use.\n");
 	printf("  -T --timestamp             Prefix every log line with a timestamp.\n");
 	printf("  -V --version               Print the version of OsmoMSC.\n");
 	printf("  -e --log-level number      Set a global loglevel.\n");
@@ -173,7 +172,7 @@
 			{"daemonize", 0, 0, 'D'},
 			{"config-file", 1, 0, 'c'},
 			{"disable-color", 0, 0, 's'},
-			{"database", 1, 0, 'l'},
+			{"database", 1, 0, 'l'}, /* deprecated */
 			{"timestamp", 0, 0, 'T'},
 			{"version", 0, 0, 'V' },
 			{"log-level", 1, 0, 'e'},
@@ -208,6 +207,8 @@
 			break;
 		case 'l':
 			msc_cmdline_config.database_name = optarg;
+			fprintf(stderr, "Command line argument '-%c' is deprecated, use VTY "
+				"parameter 'msc' / 'sms-database %s' instead.\n", c, optarg);
 			break;
 		case 'c':
 			msc_cmdline_config.config_file = optarg;