diff --git a/mercurial/dirstate.py b/mercurial/dirstate.py
--- a/mercurial/dirstate.py
+++ b/mercurial/dirstate.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 from node import nullid
 from i18n import _
-import util, ignore, osutil, parsers, encoding
+import scmutil, util, ignore, osutil, parsers, encoding
 import struct, os, stat, errno
 import cStringIO
 
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ class dirstate(object):
     def _addpath(self, f, check=False):
         oldstate = self[f]
         if check or oldstate == "r":
-            util.checkfilename(f)
+            scmutil.checkfilename(f)
             if f in self._dirs:
                 raise util.Abort(_('directory %r already in dirstate') % f)
             # shadows
diff --git a/mercurial/scmutil.py b/mercurial/scmutil.py
--- a/mercurial/scmutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/scmutil.py
@@ -9,9 +9,14 @@ from i18n import _
 import util, error
 import os, errno, stat
 
+def checkfilename(f):
+    '''Check that the filename f is an acceptable filename for a tracked file'''
+    if '\r' in f or '\n' in f:
+        raise util.Abort(_("'\\n' and '\\r' disallowed in filenames: %r") % f)
+
 def checkportable(ui, f):
     '''Check if filename f is portable and warn or abort depending on config'''
-    util.checkfilename(f)
+    checkfilename(f)
     val = ui.config('ui', 'portablefilenames', 'warn')
     lval = val.lower()
     abort = os.name == 'nt' or lval == 'abort'
diff --git a/mercurial/util.py b/mercurial/util.py
--- a/mercurial/util.py
+++ b/mercurial/util.py
@@ -445,11 +445,6 @@ def copyfiles(src, dst, hardlink=None):
 
     return hardlink, num
 
-def checkfilename(f):
-    '''Check that the filename f is an acceptable filename for a tracked file'''
-    if '\r' in f or '\n' in f:
-        raise Abort(_("'\\n' and '\\r' disallowed in filenames: %r") % f)
-
 _windows_reserved_filenames = '''con prn aux nul
     com1 com2 com3 com4 com5 com6 com7 com8 com9
     lpt1 lpt2 lpt3 lpt4 lpt5 lpt6 lpt7 lpt8 lpt9'''.split()