diff --git a/hgext/pager.py b/hgext/pager.py
index 027a2efe1f..b1808fc2e7 100644
--- a/hgext/pager.py
+++ b/hgext/pager.py
@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@ def uisetup(ui):
 
             for cmd in cmds:
                 var = 'attend-%s' % cmd
-                if ui.config('pager', var):
-                    usepager = ui.configbool('pager', var)
+                if ui.config('pager', var, None):
+                    usepager = ui.configbool('pager', var, True)
                     break
                 if (cmd in attend or
                      (cmd not in ignore and not attend)):
diff --git a/mercurial/configitems.py b/mercurial/configitems.py
index 25897ec1e3..62cfde1cb2 100644
--- a/mercurial/configitems.py
+++ b/mercurial/configitems.py
@@ -498,6 +498,10 @@ coreconfigitem('merge', 'followcopies',
 coreconfigitem('merge', 'preferancestor',
         default=lambda: ['*'],
 )
+coreconfigitem('pager', 'attend-.*',
+    default=dynamicdefault,
+    generic=True,
+)
 coreconfigitem('pager', 'ignore',
     default=list,
 )