diff --git a/hgext/sparse.py b/hgext/sparse.py
--- a/hgext/sparse.py
+++ b/hgext/sparse.py
@@ -431,7 +431,7 @@ def _wraprepo(ui, repo):
                     visited.add(profile)
 
                     try:
-                        raw = self.getrawprofile(profile, rev)
+                        raw = sparse.readprofile(self, profile, rev)
                     except error.ManifestLookupError:
                         msg = (
                             "warning: sparse profile '%s' not found "
@@ -455,11 +455,6 @@ def _wraprepo(ui, repo):
                 includes.add('.hg*')
             return includes, excludes, profiles
 
-        def getrawprofile(self, profile, changeid):
-            # TODO add some kind of cache here because this incurs a manifest
-            # resolve and can be slow.
-            return self.filectx(profile, changeid=changeid).data()
-
         def _sparsechecksum(self, path):
             data = self.vfs.read(path)
             return hashlib.sha1(data).hexdigest()
diff --git a/mercurial/sparse.py b/mercurial/sparse.py
--- a/mercurial/sparse.py
+++ b/mercurial/sparse.py
@@ -46,3 +46,10 @@ def parseconfig(ui, raw):
             current.add(line)
 
     return includes, excludes, profiles
+
+# Exists as separate function to facilitate monkeypatching.
+def readprofile(repo, profile, changeid):
+    """Resolve the raw content of a sparse profile file."""
+    # TODO add some kind of cache here because this incurs a manifest
+    # resolve and can be slow.
+    return repo.filectx(profile, changeid=changeid).data()