diff --git a/mercurial/hgweb/protocol.py b/mercurial/hgweb/protocol.py
--- a/mercurial/hgweb/protocol.py
+++ b/mercurial/hgweb/protocol.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 # This software may be used and distributed according to the terms of the
 # GNU General Public License version 2, incorporated herein by reference.
 
-import cStringIO, zlib, tempfile, errno, os, sys, urllib
+import cStringIO, zlib, tempfile, errno, os, sys, urllib, copy
 from mercurial import util, streamclone
 from mercurial.node import bin, hex
 from mercurial import changegroup as changegroupmod
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from common import ErrorResponse, HTTP_O
 ]
 
 HGTYPE = 'application/mercurial-0.1'
+basecaps = 'lookup changegroupsubset branchmap'.split()
 
 def lookup(repo, req):
     try:
@@ -109,7 +110,7 @@ def changegroupsubset(repo, req):
     yield z.flush()
 
 def capabilities(repo, req):
-    caps = ['lookup', 'changegroupsubset', 'branchmap']
+    caps = copy.copy(basecaps)
     if repo.ui.configbool('server', 'uncompressed', untrusted=True):
         caps.append('stream=%d' % repo.changelog.version)
     if changegroupmod.bundlepriority:
diff --git a/mercurial/sshserver.py b/mercurial/sshserver.py
--- a/mercurial/sshserver.py
+++ b/mercurial/sshserver.py
@@ -9,9 +9,12 @@
 from i18n import _
 from node import bin, hex
 import streamclone, util, hook
-import os, sys, tempfile, urllib
+import os, sys, tempfile, urllib, copy
 
 class sshserver(object):
+
+    caps = 'unbundle lookup changegroupsubset branchmap'.split()
+
     def __init__(self, ui, repo):
         self.ui = ui
         self.repo = repo
@@ -85,8 +88,7 @@ class sshserver(object):
 
         capabilities: space separated list of tokens
         '''
-
-        caps = ['unbundle', 'lookup', 'changegroupsubset', 'branchmap']
+        caps = copy.copy(self.caps)
         if self.ui.configbool('server', 'uncompressed'):
             caps.append('stream=%d' % self.repo.changelog.version)
         self.respond("capabilities: %s\n" % (' '.join(caps),))