diff --git a/mercurial/changelog.py b/mercurial/changelog.py
--- a/mercurial/changelog.py
+++ b/mercurial/changelog.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 # of the GNU General Public License, incorporated herein by reference.
 
 from revlog import *
+from i18n import gettext as _
 from demandload import demandload
 demandload(globals(), "os time util")
 
diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 from demandload import demandload
 from node import *
+from i18n import gettext as _
 demandload(globals(), "os re sys signal shutil imp urllib pdb")
 demandload(globals(), "fancyopts ui hg util lock revlog")
 demandload(globals(), "fnmatch hgweb mdiff random signal time traceback")
diff --git a/mercurial/dirstate.py b/mercurial/dirstate.py
--- a/mercurial/dirstate.py
+++ b/mercurial/dirstate.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ of the GNU General Public License, incor
 
 import struct, os
 from node import *
+from i18n import gettext as _
 from demandload import *
 demandload(globals(), "time bisect stat util re")
 
diff --git a/mercurial/hgweb.py b/mercurial/hgweb.py
--- a/mercurial/hgweb.py
+++ b/mercurial/hgweb.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ from demandload import demandload
 demandload(globals(), "mdiff time re socket zlib errno ui hg ConfigParser")
 demandload(globals(), "zipfile tempfile StringIO tarfile BaseHTTPServer util")
 from node import *
+from i18n import gettext as _
 
 def templatepath():
     for f in "templates", "../templates":
diff --git a/mercurial/httprepo.py b/mercurial/httprepo.py
--- a/mercurial/httprepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/httprepo.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 from node import *
 from remoterepo import *
+from i18n import gettext as _
 from demandload import *
 demandload(globals(), "hg os urllib urllib2 urlparse zlib util")
 
diff --git a/mercurial/i18n.py b/mercurial/i18n.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mercurial/i18n.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+"""
+i18n.py - internationalization support for mercurial
+
+Copyright 2005 Matt Mackall <mpm@selenic.com>
+
+This software may be used and distributed according to the terms
+of the GNU General Public License, incorporated herein by reference.
+"""
+
+import gettext
+t = gettext.translation('hg', '/usr/share/locale', fallback=1)
+gettext = t.gettext
diff --git a/mercurial/localrepo.py b/mercurial/localrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/localrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/localrepo.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import struct, os, util
 import filelog, manifest, changelog, dirstate, repo
 from node import *
+from i18n import gettext as _
 from demandload import *
 demandload(globals(), "re lock transaction tempfile stat mdiff errno")
 
diff --git a/mercurial/manifest.py b/mercurial/manifest.py
--- a/mercurial/manifest.py
+++ b/mercurial/manifest.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 import sys, struct
 from revlog import *
+from i18n import gettext as _
 from demandload import *
 demandload(globals(), "bisect")
 
diff --git a/mercurial/revlog.py b/mercurial/revlog.py
--- a/mercurial/revlog.py
+++ b/mercurial/revlog.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ of the GNU General Public License, incor
 """
 
 from node import *
+from i18n import gettext as _
 from demandload import demandload
 demandload(globals(), "binascii errno heapq mdiff sha struct zlib")
 
diff --git a/mercurial/sshrepo.py b/mercurial/sshrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/sshrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/sshrepo.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 from node import *
 from remoterepo import *
+from i18n import gettext as _
 from demandload import *
 demandload(globals(), "hg os re stat")
 
diff --git a/mercurial/transaction.py b/mercurial/transaction.py
--- a/mercurial/transaction.py
+++ b/mercurial/transaction.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 import os
 import util
+from i18n import gettext as _
 
 class transaction:
     def __init__(self, report, opener, journal, after=None):
diff --git a/mercurial/ui.py b/mercurial/ui.py
--- a/mercurial/ui.py
+++ b/mercurial/ui.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 # of the GNU General Public License, incorporated herein by reference.
 
 import os, ConfigParser
+from i18n import gettext as _
 from demandload import *
 demandload(globals(), "re socket sys util")
 
diff --git a/mercurial/util.py b/mercurial/util.py
--- a/mercurial/util.py
+++ b/mercurial/util.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ platform-specific details from the core.
 """
 
 import os, errno
+from i18n import gettext as _
 from demandload import *
 demandload(globals(), "re cStringIO shutil popen2 tempfile threading time")