diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -5536,8 +5536,8 @@ def serve(ui, repo, **opts):
         s.serve_forever()
 
     if opts["cmdserver"]:
-        s = commandserver.server(ui, repo, opts["cmdserver"])
-        return s.serve()
+        service = commandserver.pipeservice(ui, repo, opts)
+        return cmdutil.service(opts, initfn=service.init, runfn=service.run)
 
     # this way we can check if something was given in the command-line
     if opts.get('port'):
diff --git a/mercurial/commandserver.py b/mercurial/commandserver.py
--- a/mercurial/commandserver.py
+++ b/mercurial/commandserver.py
@@ -248,3 +248,13 @@ class server(object):
             return 1
 
         return 0
+
+class pipeservice(object):
+    def __init__(self, ui, repo, opts):
+        self.server = server(ui, repo, opts['cmdserver'])
+
+    def init(self):
+        pass
+
+    def run(self):
+        return self.server.serve()