diff --git a/mercurial/scmutil.py b/mercurial/scmutil.py
--- a/mercurial/scmutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/scmutil.py
@@ -296,6 +296,13 @@ def walkrepos(path, followsym=False, see
                         newdirs.append(d)
             dirs[:] = newdirs
 
+def os_rcpath():
+    '''return default os-specific hgrc search path'''
+    path = util.system_rcpath()
+    path.extend(util.user_rcpath())
+    path = [os.path.normpath(f) for f in path]
+    return path
+
 _rcpath = None
 
 def rcpath():
@@ -319,5 +326,5 @@ def rcpath():
                 else:
                     _rcpath.append(p)
         else:
-            _rcpath = util.os_rcpath()
+            _rcpath = os_rcpath()
     return _rcpath
diff --git a/mercurial/util.py b/mercurial/util.py
--- a/mercurial/util.py
+++ b/mercurial/util.py
@@ -1083,13 +1083,6 @@ def ellipsis(text, maxlength=400):
     except (UnicodeDecodeError, UnicodeEncodeError):
         return _ellipsis(text, maxlength)[0]
 
-def os_rcpath():
-    '''return default os-specific hgrc search path'''
-    path = system_rcpath()
-    path.extend(user_rcpath())
-    path = [os.path.normpath(f) for f in path]
-    return path
-
 def bytecount(nbytes):
     '''return byte count formatted as readable string, with units'''