diff --git a/mercurial/configitems.py b/mercurial/configitems.py
--- a/mercurial/configitems.py
+++ b/mercurial/configitems.py
@@ -110,6 +110,9 @@ coreconfigitem('hostsecurity', 'ciphers'
 coreconfigitem('hostsecurity', 'disabletls10warning',
     default=False,
 )
+coreconfigitem('patch', 'eol',
+    default='strict',
+)
 coreconfigitem('patch', 'fuzz',
     default=2,
 )
diff --git a/mercurial/patch.py b/mercurial/patch.py
--- a/mercurial/patch.py
+++ b/mercurial/patch.py
@@ -2077,7 +2077,7 @@ def patchbackend(ui, backend, patchobj, 
     if files is None:
         files = set()
     if eolmode is None:
-        eolmode = ui.config('patch', 'eol', 'strict')
+        eolmode = ui.config('patch', 'eol')
     if eolmode.lower() not in eolmodes:
         raise error.Abort(_('unsupported line endings type: %s') % eolmode)
     eolmode = eolmode.lower()