diff --git a/contrib/chg/chg.c b/contrib/chg/chg.c
--- a/contrib/chg/chg.c
+++ b/contrib/chg/chg.c
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ static void execcmdserver(const struct c
 		"--cwd", "/",
 		"--cmdserver", "chgunix",
 		"--address", opts->sockname,
-		"--daemon-pipefds", opts->lockfile,
+		"--daemon-postexec", opts->lockfile,
 		"--pid-file", opts->pidfile,
 		"--config", "extensions.chgserver=",
 		/* wrap root ui so that it can be disabled/enabled by config */
diff --git a/mercurial/cmdutil.py b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
--- a/mercurial/cmdutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
@@ -758,14 +758,14 @@ def service(opts, parentfn=None, initfn=
             fp.write(str(pid) + '\n')
             fp.close()
 
-    if opts['daemon'] and not opts['daemon_pipefds']:
+    if opts['daemon'] and not opts['daemon_postexec']:
         # Signal child process startup with file removal
         lockfd, lockpath = tempfile.mkstemp(prefix='hg-service-')
         os.close(lockfd)
         try:
             if not runargs:
                 runargs = util.hgcmd() + sys.argv[1:]
-            runargs.append('--daemon-pipefds=%s' % lockpath)
+            runargs.append('--daemon-postexec=%s' % lockpath)
             # Don't pass --cwd to the child process, because we've already
             # changed directory.
             for i in xrange(1, len(runargs)):
@@ -798,8 +798,8 @@ def service(opts, parentfn=None, initfn=
     if not opts['daemon']:
         writepid(util.getpid())
 
-    if opts['daemon_pipefds']:
-        lockpath = opts['daemon_pipefds']
+    if opts['daemon_postexec']:
+        lockpath = opts['daemon_postexec']
         try:
             os.setsid()
         except AttributeError:
diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -6208,7 +6208,7 @@ def root(ui, repo):
     [('A', 'accesslog', '', _('name of access log file to write to'),
      _('FILE')),
     ('d', 'daemon', None, _('run server in background')),
-    ('', 'daemon-pipefds', '', _('used internally by daemon mode'), _('FILE')),
+    ('', 'daemon-postexec', '', _('used internally by daemon mode')),
     ('E', 'errorlog', '', _('name of error log file to write to'), _('FILE')),
     # use string type, then we can check if something was passed
     ('p', 'port', '', _('port to listen on (default: 8000)'), _('PORT')),
diff --git a/tests/dumbhttp.py b/tests/dumbhttp.py
--- a/tests/dumbhttp.py
+++ b/tests/dumbhttp.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     parser.add_option('-f', '--foreground', dest='foreground',
         action='store_true',
         help='do not start the HTTP server in the background')
-    parser.add_option('--daemon-pipefds')
+    parser.add_option('--daemon-postexec')
 
     (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
 
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 
     opts = {'pid_file': options.pid,
             'daemon': not options.foreground,
-            'daemon_pipefds': options.daemon_pipefds}
+            'daemon_postexec': options.daemon_postexec}
     service = simplehttpservice(options.host, options.port)
     cmdutil.service(opts, initfn=service.init, runfn=service.run,
                     runargs=[sys.executable, __file__] + sys.argv[1:])
diff --git a/tests/test-completion.t b/tests/test-completion.t
--- a/tests/test-completion.t
+++ b/tests/test-completion.t
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ Show the options for the "serve" command
   --config
   --cwd
   --daemon
-  --daemon-pipefds
+  --daemon-postexec
   --debug
   --debugger
   --encoding
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ Show all commands + options
   pull: update, force, rev, bookmark, branch, ssh, remotecmd, insecure
   push: force, rev, bookmark, branch, new-branch, ssh, remotecmd, insecure
   remove: after, force, subrepos, include, exclude
-  serve: accesslog, daemon, daemon-pipefds, errorlog, port, address, prefix, name, web-conf, webdir-conf, pid-file, stdio, cmdserver, templates, style, ipv6, certificate
+  serve: accesslog, daemon, daemon-postexec, errorlog, port, address, prefix, name, web-conf, webdir-conf, pid-file, stdio, cmdserver, templates, style, ipv6, certificate
   status: all, modified, added, removed, deleted, clean, unknown, ignored, no-status, copies, print0, rev, change, include, exclude, subrepos, template
   summary: remote
   update: clean, check, date, rev, tool