diff --git a/mercurial/util.py b/mercurial/util.py
--- a/mercurial/util.py
+++ b/mercurial/util.py
@@ -1436,8 +1436,9 @@ def getport(port):
     except socket.error:
         raise Abort(_("no port number associated with service '%s'") % port)
 
-_booleans = {'1': True, 'yes': True, 'true': True, 'on': True,
-             '0': False, 'no': False, 'false': False, 'off': False}
+_booleans = {'1': True, 'yes': True, 'true': True, 'on': True, 'always': True,
+             '0': False, 'no': False, 'false': False, 'off': False,
+             'never': False}
 
 def parsebool(s):
     """Parse s into a boolean.