diff --git a/mercurial/localrepo.py b/mercurial/localrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/localrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/localrepo.py
@@ -267,7 +267,6 @@ class localrepository(object):
         self.nofsauditor = pathutil.pathauditor(self.root, self._checknested,
                                                 realfs=False)
         self.vfs = scmutil.vfs(self.path)
-        self.opener = self.vfs
         self.baseui = baseui
         self.ui = baseui.copy()
         self.ui.copy = baseui.copy # prevent copying repo configuration
@@ -384,6 +383,11 @@ class localrepository(object):
         self.ui.deprecwarn("use 'repo.wvfs' instead of 'repo.wopener'", '4.2')
         return self.wvfs
 
+    @property
+    def opener(self):
+        self.ui.deprecwarn("use 'repo.vfs' instead of 'repo.opener'", '4.2')
+        return self.vfs
+
     def close(self):
         self._writecaches()
 
diff --git a/mercurial/statichttprepo.py b/mercurial/statichttprepo.py
--- a/mercurial/statichttprepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/statichttprepo.py
@@ -123,7 +123,6 @@ class statichttprepository(localrepo.loc
 
         vfsclass = build_opener(ui, authinfo)
         self.vfs = vfsclass(self.path)
-        self.opener = self.vfs
         self._phasedefaults = []
 
         self.names = namespaces.namespaces()