diff --git a/mercurial/commandserver.py b/mercurial/commandserver.py
--- a/mercurial/commandserver.py
+++ b/mercurial/commandserver.py
@@ -187,14 +187,20 @@ class server(object):
         # copy the uis so changes (e.g. --config or --verbose) don't
         # persist between requests
         copiedui = self.ui.copy()
+        uis = [copiedui]
         if self.repo:
             self.repo.baseui = copiedui
             # clone ui without using ui.copy because this is protected
             repoui = self.repoui.__class__(self.repoui)
             repoui.copy = copiedui.copy # redo copy protection
+            uis.append(repoui)
             self.repo.ui = self.repo.dirstate._ui = repoui
             self.repo.invalidateall()
 
+        for ui in uis:
+            # any kind of interaction must use server channels
+            ui.setconfig('ui', 'nontty', 'true', 'commandserver')
+
         req = dispatch.request(args[:], copiedui, self.repo, self.cin,
                                self.cout, self.cerr)
 
diff --git a/mercurial/ui.py b/mercurial/ui.py
--- a/mercurial/ui.py
+++ b/mercurial/ui.py
@@ -689,7 +689,12 @@ class ui(object):
             return default
         try:
             self.write_err(self.label(prompt or _('password: '), 'ui.prompt'))
-            return getpass.getpass('')
+            # disable getpass() only if explicitly specified. it's still valid
+            # to interact with tty even if fin is not a tty.
+            if self.configbool('ui', 'nontty'):
+                return self.fin.readline().rstrip('\n')
+            else:
+                return getpass.getpass('')
         except EOFError:
             raise util.Abort(_('response expected'))
     def status(self, *msg, **opts):
diff --git a/tests/test-commandserver.py b/tests/test-commandserver.py
--- a/tests/test-commandserver.py
+++ b/tests/test-commandserver.py
@@ -294,6 +294,11 @@ def mqoutsidechanges(server):
     # repo.mq should be recreated to point to new queue
     runcommand(server, ['qqueue', '--active'])
 
+def getpass(server):
+    readchannel(server)
+    runcommand(server, ['debuggetpass', '--config', 'ui.interactive=True'],
+               input=cStringIO.StringIO('1234\n'))
+
 def startwithoutrepo(server):
     readchannel(server)
     runcommand(server, ['init', 'repo2'])
@@ -334,6 +339,19 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     hgrc.write('[extensions]\nmq=\n')
     hgrc.close()
     check(mqoutsidechanges)
+    dbg = open('dbgui.py', 'w')
+    dbg.write('from mercurial import cmdutil, commands\n'
+              'commands.norepo += " debuggetpass"\n'
+              'cmdtable = {}\n'
+              'command = cmdutil.command(cmdtable)\n'
+              '@command("debuggetpass")\n'
+              'def debuggetpass(ui):\n'
+              '    ui.write("%s\\n" % ui.getpass())\n')
+    dbg.close()
+    hgrc = open('.hg/hgrc', 'a')
+    hgrc.write('[extensions]\ndbgui=dbgui.py\n')
+    hgrc.close()
+    check(getpass)
 
     os.chdir('..')
     check(hellomessage)
diff --git a/tests/test-commandserver.py.out b/tests/test-commandserver.py.out
--- a/tests/test-commandserver.py.out
+++ b/tests/test-commandserver.py.out
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ defaults.tag=-d "0 0"
 ui.slash=True
 ui.interactive=False
 ui.foo=bar
+ui.nontty=true
  runcommand init foo
  runcommand -R foo showconfig ui defaults
 defaults.backout=-d "0 0"
@@ -89,6 +90,7 @@ defaults.shelve=--date "0 0"
 defaults.tag=-d "0 0"
 ui.slash=True
 ui.interactive=False
+ui.nontty=true
 
 testing hookoutput:
 
@@ -238,6 +240,11 @@ patch queue now empty
  runcommand qqueue --active
 foo
 
+testing getpass:
+
+ runcommand debuggetpass --config ui.interactive=True
+password: 1234
+
 testing hellomessage:
 
 o, 'capabilities: getencoding runcommand\nencoding: ***'