diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 30beaae34d2f..d4ff00a83c48 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #![cfg_attr(feature = "deny-warnings", deny(warnings))]
+#![feature(let_chains)]
 // warn on lints, that are included in `rust-lang/rust`s bootstrap
 #![warn(rust_2018_idioms, unused_lifetimes)]
 
@@ -43,7 +44,23 @@ pub fn main() {
         return;
     }
 
-    if let Err(code) = process(env::args().skip(2)) {
+    // if we run "cargo clippy" (as cargo subcommand), we have to strip "cargo clippy" (first 2 args)
+    // but if we are run via "..../target/debug/cargo-clippy", only ommit the first arg, the second one
+    // might be a normal cmdline arg already (which we don't want to ommit)
+    let args = if let Some(first_arg) = env::args().next()
+        && (first_arg.ends_with("cargo-clippy") || first_arg.ends_with("cargo-clippy.exe"))
+    {
+        // turn this of during the migration
+        // env::args().skip(1)
+        eprintln!(
+            "WARNING: potentially breaking change: 'cargo-clippy arg1 arg2...' will no longer ignore 'arg1' after edition=2024"
+        );
+        env::args().skip(2)
+    } else {
+        env::args().skip(2)
+    };
+
+    if let Err(code) = process(args) {
         process::exit(code);
     }
 }
@@ -216,4 +233,14 @@ mod tests {
         let cmd = ClippyCmd::new(args);
         assert_eq!("check", cmd.cargo_subcommand);
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn dont_skip_arg() {
+        let args = "target/debug/cargo-clippy --fix"
+            .split_whitespace()
+            .map(ToString::to_string);
+        let cmd = ClippyCmd::new(args);
+        assert_eq!("fix", cmd.cargo_subcommand);
+        assert!(!cmd.args.iter().any(|arg| arg.ends_with("unstable-options")));
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/dogfood.rs b/tests/dogfood.rs
index 3f16c180ea78..c1c79db6f093 100644
--- a/tests/dogfood.rs
+++ b/tests/dogfood.rs
@@ -98,7 +98,6 @@ fn run_clippy_for_package(project: &str, args: &[&str]) -> bool {
     command
         .current_dir(root_dir.join(project))
         .env("CARGO_INCREMENTAL", "0")
-        .arg("clippy")
         .arg("--all-targets")
         .arg("--all-features");
 
diff --git a/tests/workspace.rs b/tests/workspace.rs
index 699ab2be199a..b20c2e06ba9b 100644
--- a/tests/workspace.rs
+++ b/tests/workspace.rs
@@ -71,7 +71,6 @@ fn test_no_deps_ignores_path_deps_in_workspaces() {
         .current_dir(&cwd)
         .env("CARGO_INCREMENTAL", "0")
         .env("CARGO_TARGET_DIR", &target_dir)
-        .arg("clippy")
         .args(["-p", "subcrate"])
         .arg("--no-deps")
         .arg("--")
@@ -91,7 +90,6 @@ fn test_no_deps_ignores_path_deps_in_workspaces() {
             .current_dir(&cwd)
             .env("CARGO_INCREMENTAL", "0")
             .env("CARGO_TARGET_DIR", &target_dir)
-            .arg("clippy")
             .args(["-p", "subcrate"])
             .arg("--")
             .arg("-Cdebuginfo=0") // disable debuginfo to generate less data in the target dir
@@ -118,7 +116,6 @@ fn test_no_deps_ignores_path_deps_in_workspaces() {
             .current_dir(&cwd)
             .env("CARGO_INCREMENTAL", "0")
             .env("CARGO_TARGET_DIR", &target_dir)
-            .arg("clippy")
             .args(["-p", "subcrate"])
             .arg("--")
             .arg("-Cdebuginfo=0") // disable debuginfo to generate less data in the target dir