diff --git a/hgext/acl.py b/hgext/acl.py
--- a/hgext/acl.py
+++ b/hgext/acl.py
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class checker(object):
 
     def buildmatch(self, key):
         '''return tuple of (match function, list enabled).'''
-        if not self.ui.has_config(key):
+        if not self.ui.has_section(key):
             self.ui.debug(_('acl: %s not enabled\n') % key)
             return None, False
 
diff --git a/mercurial/ui.py b/mercurial/ui.py
--- a/mercurial/ui.py
+++ b/mercurial/ui.py
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ class ui(object):
             result = result.replace(",", " ").split()
         return result
 
-    def has_config(self, section, untrusted=False):
+    def has_section(self, section, untrusted=False):
         '''tell whether section exists in config.'''
         cdata = self._get_cdata(untrusted)
         return cdata.has_section(section)