diff --git a/mercurial/configitems.py b/mercurial/configitems.py
--- a/mercurial/configitems.py
+++ b/mercurial/configitems.py
@@ -184,6 +184,10 @@
 coreconfigitem('color', 'pagermode',
     default=dynamicdefault,
 )
+coreconfigitem('commands', '.*\.default\..*',
+    generic=True,
+    default=dynamicdefault,
+)
 coreconfigitem('commands', 'show.aliasprefix',
     default=list,
 )
diff --git a/mercurial/dispatch.py b/mercurial/dispatch.py
--- a/mercurial/dispatch.py
+++ b/mercurial/dispatch.py
@@ -611,6 +611,37 @@
             args = pycompat.maplist(
                 util.expandpath, pycompat.shlexsplit(defaults)) + args
         c = list(entry[1])
+
+        # Apply new-style defaults from config file by actually changing the
+        # option defaults. We still let old-style defaults trump these (since
+        # those are added to the command line).
+        for idx, opt in enumerate(c):
+            optname = opt[1]
+            olddefault = opt[2]
+            defaulttype = type(olddefault)
+            cfgitem = "%s.default.%s" % (cmd, optname)
+
+            # parse the new default as the same type as the original.
+            newdefault = ui.configtyped("commands", cfgitem, defaulttype,
+                                        olddefault)
+            if isinstance(olddefault, fancyopts.customopt):
+                def badvalue(s):
+                    raise error.Abort(
+                        _('invalid value %r for config option %s: %s') % (
+                            newdefault, cfgitem, s))
+
+                # If it's a custom option, then configtyped must have parsed it
+                # as string - ask the customopt to parse its new default.
+                # Notice this does have limitations - since we have no way to
+                # start with a "clean" old state, this is not overriding the
+                # default, but rather adding to it - e.g. a non-empty list
+                # default will be appended to.
+                olddefault.defaultvalue = olddefault.newstate(
+                    olddefault.defaultvalue, newdefault, badvalue)
+            elif olddefault != newdefault:
+                # override the default in the flag declaration.
+                c[idx] = (opt[0], opt[1], newdefault, opt[3])
+
     else:
         cmd = None
         c = []
diff --git a/mercurial/ui.py b/mercurial/ui.py
--- a/mercurial/ui.py
+++ b/mercurial/ui.py
@@ -545,7 +545,8 @@
 
         return main, sub
 
-    def configtyped(self, section, name, itemtype, default=_unset, untrusted=False):
+    def configtyped(self, section, name, itemtype, default=_unset,
+                    untrusted=False):
         """Get a config item as the given type."""
         if itemtype is type(False) or itemtype is type(None):
             return self.configbool(section, name, default, untrusted)
diff --git a/tests/test-dispatch.t b/tests/test-dispatch.t
--- a/tests/test-dispatch.t
+++ b/tests/test-dispatch.t
@@ -8,8 +8,10 @@
   $ hg -v log -v x
 
   $ echo a > a
+  $ echo b > b
   $ hg ci -Ama
   adding a
+  adding b
 
 Missing arg:
 
@@ -52,10 +54,10 @@
 Parsing of early options should stop at "--":
 
   $ hg cat -- --config=hooks.pre-cat=false
-  --config=hooks.pre-cat=false: no such file in rev cb9a9f314b8b
+  --config=hooks.pre-cat=false: no such file in rev 0cd96de13884
   [1]
   $ hg cat -- --debugger
-  --debugger: no such file in rev cb9a9f314b8b
+  --debugger: no such file in rev 0cd96de13884
   [1]
 
 Unparsable form of early options:
@@ -155,11 +157,11 @@
   abort: pre-log hook exited with status 1
   [255]
   $ HGPLAIN=+strictflags hg --cwd .. -q -Ra log -b default
-  0:cb9a9f314b8b
+  0:0cd96de13884
   $ HGPLAIN=+strictflags hg --cwd .. -q --repository a log -b default
-  0:cb9a9f314b8b
+  0:0cd96de13884
   $ HGPLAIN=+strictflags hg --cwd .. -q --repo a log -b default
-  0:cb9a9f314b8b
+  0:0cd96de13884
 
 For compatibility reasons, HGPLAIN=+strictflags is not enabled by plain HGPLAIN:
 
@@ -167,12 +169,13 @@
   abort: pre-log hook exited with status 1
   [255]
   $ HGPLAINEXCEPT= hg log --cwd .. -q -Ra -b default
-  0:cb9a9f314b8b
+  0:0cd96de13884
 
 [defaults]
 
   $ hg cat a
   a
+  $ cp $HGRCPATH hgrc.bak
   $ cat >> $HGRCPATH <<EOF
   > [defaults]
   > cat = -r null
@@ -180,6 +183,49 @@
   $ hg cat a
   a: no such file in rev 000000000000
   [1]
+  $ cp -f hgrc.bak $HGRCPATH
+
+new-style [commands] defaults and overrides
+
+  $ hg cat a
+  a
+  $ cat >> $HGRCPATH <<EOF
+  > [commands]
+  > cat.default.rev = null
+  > EOF
+  $ hg cat a
+  a: no such file in rev 000000000000
+  [1]
+
+  $ mv -f hgrc.bak $HGRCPATH
+  $ echo foo >> a
+  $ hg rm b
+  $ echo bar > c
+  $ hg add c
+  $ hg status
+  M a
+  A c
+  R b
+  ? bad.py
+  ? bad.pyc
+  $ cat >> $HGRCPATH <<EOF
+  > [commands]
+  > status.default.removed = 1
+  > EOF
+  $ hg status
+  R b
+  $ hg status --modified
+  M a
+  R b
+  $ hg status --modified --no-removed
+  M a
+  $ hg status --no-removed
+  M a
+  A c
+  R b
+  ? bad.py
+  ? bad.pyc
+  $ hg revert a b c
 
   $ cd "$TESTTMP"