diff --git a/mercurial/ui.py b/mercurial/ui.py
--- a/mercurial/ui.py
+++ b/mercurial/ui.py
@@ -711,11 +711,7 @@ class ui(object):
             r = self._readline(self.label(msg, 'ui.prompt'))
             if not r:
                 r = default
-            # sometimes self.interactive disagrees with isatty,
-            # show response provided on stdin when simulating
-            # but commandserver
-            if (not util.isatty(self.fin)
-                and not self.configbool('ui', 'nontty')):
+            if self.configbool('ui', 'promptecho'):
                 self.write(r, "\n")
             return r
         except EOFError:
diff --git a/tests/run-tests.py b/tests/run-tests.py
--- a/tests/run-tests.py
+++ b/tests/run-tests.py
@@ -681,6 +681,7 @@ class Test(unittest.TestCase):
         hgrc.write('slash = True\n')
         hgrc.write('interactive = False\n')
         hgrc.write('mergemarkers = detailed\n')
+        hgrc.write('promptecho = True\n')
         hgrc.write('[defaults]\n')
         hgrc.write('backout = -d "0 0"\n')
         hgrc.write('commit = -d "0 0"\n')
diff --git a/tests/test-basic.t b/tests/test-basic.t
--- a/tests/test-basic.t
+++ b/tests/test-basic.t
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ Create a repository:
   ui.slash=True
   ui.interactive=False
   ui.mergemarkers=detailed
+  ui.promptecho=True
   $ hg init t
   $ cd t
 
diff --git a/tests/test-commandserver.t b/tests/test-commandserver.t
--- a/tests/test-commandserver.t
+++ b/tests/test-commandserver.t
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@
 #endif
   $ export PYTHONPATH
 
+typical client does not want echo-back messages, so test without it:
+
+  $ grep -v '^promptecho ' < $HGRCPATH >> $HGRCPATH.new
+  $ mv $HGRCPATH.new $HGRCPATH
+
   $ hg init repo
   $ cd repo