diff --git a/examples/ansible.cfg b/examples/ansible.cfg
index 87c089f45ae..ec3ddf20641 100644
--- a/examples/ansible.cfg
+++ b/examples/ansible.cfg
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 #inventory      = /etc/ansible/hosts
 #library        = /usr/share/my_modules/
 #remote_tmp     = $HOME/.ansible/tmp
-#pattern        = *
 #forks          = 5
 #poll_interval  = 15
 #sudo_user      = root
diff --git a/lib/ansible/constants.py b/lib/ansible/constants.py
index ae10c5e9a42..7f74358dd5d 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/constants.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/constants.py
@@ -120,16 +120,20 @@ DEFAULT_COW_WHITELIST = ['bud-frogs', 'bunny', 'cheese', 'daemon', 'default', 'd
 # sections in config file
 DEFAULTS='defaults'
 
+# FIXME: add deprecation warning when these get set
+#### DEPRECATED VARS #### 
+# use more sanely named 'inventory'
 DEPRECATED_HOST_LIST  = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'hostfile', 'ANSIBLE_HOSTS', '/etc/ansible/hosts', ispath=True)
+# this is not used since 0.5 but people might still have in config
+DEFAULT_PATTERN           = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'pattern', None, None)
 
-# generally configurable things
+#### GENERALLY CONFIGURABLE THINGS ####
 DEFAULT_DEBUG             = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'debug',            'ANSIBLE_DEBUG',            False, boolean=True)
 DEFAULT_HOST_LIST         = get_config(p, DEFAULTS,'inventory', 'ANSIBLE_INVENTORY', DEPRECATED_HOST_LIST, ispath=True)
 DEFAULT_MODULE_PATH       = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'library',          'ANSIBLE_LIBRARY',          None, ispath=True)
 DEFAULT_ROLES_PATH        = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'roles_path',       'ANSIBLE_ROLES_PATH',       '/etc/ansible/roles', ispath=True)
 DEFAULT_REMOTE_TMP        = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'remote_tmp',       'ANSIBLE_REMOTE_TEMP',      '$HOME/.ansible/tmp')
 DEFAULT_MODULE_NAME       = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'module_name',      None,                       'command')
-DEFAULT_PATTERN           = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'pattern',          None,                       '*')
 DEFAULT_FORKS             = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'forks',            'ANSIBLE_FORKS',            5, integer=True)
 DEFAULT_MODULE_ARGS       = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'module_args',      'ANSIBLE_MODULE_ARGS',      '')
 DEFAULT_MODULE_LANG       = get_config(p, DEFAULTS, 'module_lang',      'ANSIBLE_MODULE_LANG',      os.getenv('LANG', 'en_US.UTF-8'))