Some of the settings in disperse.conf could be autodetected:

news_file
---------

Probe for the existence of any of a number of files: ['NEWS', 'CHANGES.md', 'CHANGES']

tag_name
--------

Query upstream_ontologist for the version tag convention that upstream uses.

verify_command
--------------

Default to 'ogni test'

update_manages
--------------

Check for the existence of a man/ or manpages/ directory.