diff --git a/contrib/churn.py b/contrib/churn.py
--- a/contrib/churn.py
+++ b/contrib/churn.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 # <alias email> <actual email>
 
 from mercurial.i18n import gettext as _
-from mercurial import hg, mdiff, cmdutil, ui, util, templater, node
+from mercurial import hg, mdiff, cmdutil, ui, util, templatefilters, node
 import os, sys
 
 def get_tty_width():
diff --git a/hgext/interhg.py b/hgext/interhg.py
--- a/hgext/interhg.py
+++ b/hgext/interhg.py
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@
 
 import re
 from mercurial.hgweb import hgweb_mod
-from mercurial import templater
+from mercurial import templatefilters
 
-orig_escape = templater.common_filters["escape"]
+orig_escape = templatefilters.filters["escape"]
 
 interhg_table = []
 
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def interhg_escape(x):
         escstr = regexp.sub(format, escstr)
     return escstr
 
-templater.common_filters["escape"] = interhg_escape
+templatefilters.filters["escape"] = interhg_escape
 
 orig_refresh = hgweb_mod.hgweb.refresh
 
diff --git a/hgext/keyword.py b/hgext/keyword.py
--- a/hgext/keyword.py
+++ b/hgext/keyword.py
@@ -78,8 +78,8 @@ like CVS' $Log$, are not supported. A ke
 "Log = {desc}" expands to the first line of the changeset description.
 '''
 
-from mercurial import commands, cmdutil, context, dispatch, filelog
-from mercurial import patch, localrepo, revlog, templater, util
+from mercurial import commands, cmdutil, context, dispatch, filelog, revlog
+from mercurial import patch, localrepo, templater, templatefilters, util
 from mercurial.node import *
 from mercurial.i18n import _
 import re, shutil, sys, tempfile, time
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ class kwtemplater(object):
         kwpat = r'\$(%s)(: [^$\n\r]*? )??\$' % '|'.join(escaped)
         self.re_kw = re.compile(kwpat)
 
-        templater.common_filters['utcdate'] = utcdate
+        templatefilters.filters['utcdate'] = utcdate
         self.ct = cmdutil.changeset_templater(self.ui, self.repo,
                                               False, '', False)
 
@@ -149,7 +149,8 @@ class kwtemplater(object):
             self.ct.use_template(self.templates[kw])
             self.ui.pushbuffer()
             self.ct.show(changenode=fnode, root=self.repo.root, file=self.path)
-            return '$%s: %s $' % (kw, templater.firstline(self.ui.popbuffer()))
+            return '$%s: %s $' % (kw, templatefilters.firstline(
+                self.ui.popbuffer()))
 
         return subfunc(kwsub, data)
 
diff --git a/mercurial/cmdutil.py b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
--- a/mercurial/cmdutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from node import *
 from i18n import _
 import os, sys, bisect, stat
-import mdiff, bdiff, util, templater, patch, errno
+import mdiff, bdiff, util, templater, templatefilters, patch, errno
 
 revrangesep = ':'
 
@@ -673,7 +673,7 @@ class changeset_templater(changeset_prin
 
     def __init__(self, ui, repo, patch, mapfile, buffered):
         changeset_printer.__init__(self, ui, repo, patch, buffered)
-        filters = templater.common_filters.copy()
+        filters = templatefilters.filters.copy()
         filters['formatnode'] = (ui.debugflag and (lambda x: x)
                                  or (lambda x: x[:12]))
         self.t = templater.templater(mapfile, filters,
diff --git a/mercurial/hgweb/hgweb_mod.py b/mercurial/hgweb/hgweb_mod.py
--- a/mercurial/hgweb/hgweb_mod.py
+++ b/mercurial/hgweb/hgweb_mod.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 import os, mimetypes, re
 from mercurial.node import *
 from mercurial import mdiff, ui, hg, util, archival, patch, hook
-from mercurial import revlog, templater
+from mercurial import revlog, templater, templatefilters
 from common import ErrorResponse, get_mtime, style_map, paritygen, get_contact
 from request import wsgirequest
 import webcommands, protocol
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ class hgweb(object):
 
         # create the templater
 
-        tmpl = templater.templater(mapfile, templater.common_filters,
+        tmpl = templater.templater(mapfile, templatefilters.filters,
                                    defaults={"url": req.url,
                                              "staticurl": staticurl,
                                              "urlbase": urlbase,
diff --git a/mercurial/hgweb/hgwebdir_mod.py b/mercurial/hgweb/hgwebdir_mod.py
--- a/mercurial/hgweb/hgwebdir_mod.py
+++ b/mercurial/hgweb/hgwebdir_mod.py
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
 
 import os
 from mercurial.i18n import gettext as _
-from mercurial import ui, hg, util, templater
-from common import ErrorResponse, get_mtime, staticfile, style_map, paritygen, \
+from mercurial import ui, hg, util, templater, templatefilters
+from common import ErrorResponse, get_mtime, staticfile, style_map, paritygen,\
                    get_contact
 from hgweb_mod import hgweb
 from request import wsgirequest
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ class hgwebdir(object):
         if self.stripecount is None:
             self.stripecount = int(config('web', 'stripes', 1))
         mapfile = style_map(templater.templatepath(), style)
-        tmpl = templater.templater(mapfile, templater.common_filters,
+        tmpl = templater.templater(mapfile, templatefilters.filters,
                                    defaults={"header": header,
                                              "footer": footer,
                                              "motd": motd,
diff --git a/mercurial/templatefilters.py b/mercurial/templatefilters.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mercurial/templatefilters.py
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+# template-filters.py - common template expansion filters
+#
+# Copyright 2005-2008 Matt Mackall <mpm@selenic.com>
+#
+# This software may be used and distributed according to the terms
+# of the GNU General Public License, incorporated herein by reference.
+
+import cgi, re, os, time, urllib, textwrap
+import util, templater
+
+agescales = [("second", 1),
+             ("minute", 60),
+             ("hour", 3600),
+             ("day", 3600 * 24),
+             ("week", 3600 * 24 * 7),
+             ("month", 3600 * 24 * 30),
+             ("year", 3600 * 24 * 365)]
+
+agescales.reverse()
+
+def age(date):
+    '''turn a (timestamp, tzoff) tuple into an age string.'''
+
+    def plural(t, c):
+        if c == 1:
+            return t
+        return t + "s"
+    def fmt(t, c):
+        return "%d %s" % (c, plural(t, c))
+
+    now = time.time()
+    then = date[0]
+    delta = max(1, int(now - then))
+
+    for t, s in agescales:
+        n = delta / s
+        if n >= 2 or s == 1:
+            return fmt(t, n)
+
+para_re = None
+space_re = None
+
+def fill(text, width):
+    '''fill many paragraphs.'''
+    global para_re, space_re
+    if para_re is None:
+        para_re = re.compile('(\n\n|\n\\s*[-*]\\s*)', re.M)
+        space_re = re.compile(r'  +')
+
+    def findparas():
+        start = 0
+        while True:
+            m = para_re.search(text, start)
+            if not m:
+                w = len(text)
+                while w > start and text[w-1].isspace(): w -= 1
+                yield text[start:w], text[w:]
+                break
+            yield text[start:m.start(0)], m.group(1)
+            start = m.end(1)
+
+    return "".join([space_re.sub(' ', textwrap.fill(para, width)) + rest
+                    for para, rest in findparas()])
+
+def firstline(text):
+    '''return the first line of text'''
+    try:
+        return text.splitlines(1)[0].rstrip('\r\n')
+    except IndexError:
+        return ''
+
+def isodate(date):
+    '''turn a (timestamp, tzoff) tuple into an iso 8631 date and time.'''
+    return util.datestr(date, format='%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')
+
+def hgdate(date):
+    '''turn a (timestamp, tzoff) tuple into an hg cset timestamp.'''
+    return "%d %d" % date
+
+def nl2br(text):
+    '''replace raw newlines with xhtml line breaks.'''
+    return text.replace('\n', '<br/>\n')
+
+def obfuscate(text):
+    text = unicode(text, util._encoding, 'replace')
+    return ''.join(['&#%d;' % ord(c) for c in text])
+
+def domain(author):
+    '''get domain of author, or empty string if none.'''
+    f = author.find('@')
+    if f == -1: return ''
+    author = author[f+1:]
+    f = author.find('>')
+    if f >= 0: author = author[:f]
+    return author
+
+def person(author):
+    '''get name of author, or else username.'''
+    f = author.find('<')
+    if f == -1: return util.shortuser(author)
+    return author[:f].rstrip()
+
+def shortdate(date):
+    '''turn (timestamp, tzoff) tuple into iso 8631 date.'''
+    return util.datestr(date, format='%Y-%m-%d', timezone=False)
+
+def indent(text, prefix):
+    '''indent each non-empty line of text after first with prefix.'''
+    lines = text.splitlines()
+    num_lines = len(lines)
+    def indenter():
+        for i in xrange(num_lines):
+            l = lines[i]
+            if i and l.strip():
+                yield prefix
+            yield l
+            if i < num_lines - 1 or text.endswith('\n'):
+                yield '\n'
+    return "".join(indenter())
+
+def permissions(flags):
+    if "l" in flags:
+        return "lrwxrwxrwx"
+    if "x" in flags:
+        return "-rwxr-xr-x"
+    return "-rw-r--r--"
+
+filters = {
+    "addbreaks": nl2br,
+    "basename": os.path.basename,
+    "age": age,
+    "date": lambda x: util.datestr(x),
+    "domain": domain,
+    "email": util.email,
+    "escape": lambda x: cgi.escape(x, True),
+    "fill68": lambda x: fill(x, width=68),
+    "fill76": lambda x: fill(x, width=76),
+    "firstline": firstline,
+    "tabindent": lambda x: indent(x, '\t'),
+    "hgdate": hgdate,
+    "isodate": isodate,
+    "obfuscate": obfuscate,
+    "permissions": permissions,
+    "person": person,
+    "rfc822date": lambda x: util.datestr(x, "%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S"),
+    "rfc3339date": lambda x: util.datestr(x, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S", True, "%+03d:%02d"),
+    "short": lambda x: x[:12],
+    "shortdate": shortdate,
+    "stringify": templater.stringify,
+    "strip": lambda x: x.strip(),
+    "urlescape": lambda x: urllib.quote(x),
+    "user": lambda x: util.shortuser(x),
+    "stringescape": lambda x: x.encode('string_escape'),
+    }
+
diff --git a/mercurial/templater.py b/mercurial/templater.py
--- a/mercurial/templater.py
+++ b/mercurial/templater.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 # of the GNU General Public License, incorporated herein by reference.
 
 from i18n import _
-import cgi, re, sys, os, time, urllib, util, textwrap
+import re, sys, os
 
 def parsestring(s, quoted=True):
     '''parse a string using simple c-like syntax.
@@ -122,157 +122,6 @@ class templater(object):
                         v = self.filters[f](v)
                 yield v
 
-agescales = [("second", 1),
-             ("minute", 60),
-             ("hour", 3600),
-             ("day", 3600 * 24),
-             ("week", 3600 * 24 * 7),
-             ("month", 3600 * 24 * 30),
-             ("year", 3600 * 24 * 365)]
-
-agescales.reverse()
-
-def age(date):
-    '''turn a (timestamp, tzoff) tuple into an age string.'''
-
-    def plural(t, c):
-        if c == 1:
-            return t
-        return t + "s"
-    def fmt(t, c):
-        return "%d %s" % (c, plural(t, c))
-
-    now = time.time()
-    then = date[0]
-    delta = max(1, int(now - then))
-
-    for t, s in agescales:
-        n = delta / s
-        if n >= 2 or s == 1:
-            return fmt(t, n)
-
-def stringify(thing):
-    '''turn nested template iterator into string.'''
-    if hasattr(thing, '__iter__'):
-        return "".join([stringify(t) for t in thing if t is not None])
-    return str(thing)
-
-para_re = None
-space_re = None
-
-def fill(text, width):
-    '''fill many paragraphs.'''
-    global para_re, space_re
-    if para_re is None:
-        para_re = re.compile('(\n\n|\n\\s*[-*]\\s*)', re.M)
-        space_re = re.compile(r'  +')
-
-    def findparas():
-        start = 0
-        while True:
-            m = para_re.search(text, start)
-            if not m:
-                w = len(text)
-                while w > start and text[w-1].isspace(): w -= 1
-                yield text[start:w], text[w:]
-                break
-            yield text[start:m.start(0)], m.group(1)
-            start = m.end(1)
-
-    return "".join([space_re.sub(' ', textwrap.fill(para, width)) + rest
-                    for para, rest in findparas()])
-
-def firstline(text):
-    '''return the first line of text'''
-    try:
-        return text.splitlines(1)[0].rstrip('\r\n')
-    except IndexError:
-        return ''
-
-def isodate(date):
-    '''turn a (timestamp, tzoff) tuple into an iso 8631 date and time.'''
-    return util.datestr(date, format='%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')
-
-def hgdate(date):
-    '''turn a (timestamp, tzoff) tuple into an hg cset timestamp.'''
-    return "%d %d" % date
-
-def nl2br(text):
-    '''replace raw newlines with xhtml line breaks.'''
-    return text.replace('\n', '<br/>\n')
-
-def obfuscate(text):
-    text = unicode(text, util._encoding, 'replace')
-    return ''.join(['&#%d;' % ord(c) for c in text])
-
-def domain(author):
-    '''get domain of author, or empty string if none.'''
-    f = author.find('@')
-    if f == -1: return ''
-    author = author[f+1:]
-    f = author.find('>')
-    if f >= 0: author = author[:f]
-    return author
-
-def person(author):
-    '''get name of author, or else username.'''
-    f = author.find('<')
-    if f == -1: return util.shortuser(author)
-    return author[:f].rstrip()
-
-def shortdate(date):
-    '''turn (timestamp, tzoff) tuple into iso 8631 date.'''
-    return util.datestr(date, format='%Y-%m-%d', timezone=False)
-
-def indent(text, prefix):
-    '''indent each non-empty line of text after first with prefix.'''
-    lines = text.splitlines()
-    num_lines = len(lines)
-    def indenter():
-        for i in xrange(num_lines):
-            l = lines[i]
-            if i and l.strip():
-                yield prefix
-            yield l
-            if i < num_lines - 1 or text.endswith('\n'):
-                yield '\n'
-    return "".join(indenter())
-
-def permissions(flags):
-    if "l" in flags:
-        return "lrwxrwxrwx"
-    if "x" in flags:
-        return "-rwxr-xr-x"
-    return "-rw-r--r--"
-
-common_filters = {
-    "addbreaks": nl2br,
-    "basename": os.path.basename,
-    "age": age,
-    "date": lambda x: util.datestr(x),
-    "domain": domain,
-    "email": util.email,
-    "escape": lambda x: cgi.escape(x, True),
-    "fill68": lambda x: fill(x, width=68),
-    "fill76": lambda x: fill(x, width=76),
-    "firstline": firstline,
-    "tabindent": lambda x: indent(x, '\t'),
-    "hgdate": hgdate,
-    "isodate": isodate,
-    "obfuscate": obfuscate,
-    "permissions": permissions,
-    "person": person,
-    "rfc822date": lambda x: util.datestr(x, "%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S"),
-    "rfc3339date": lambda x: util.datestr(x, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S", True, "%+03d:%02d"),
-    "short": lambda x: x[:12],
-    "shortdate": shortdate,
-    "stringify": stringify,
-    "strip": lambda x: x.strip(),
-    "urlescape": lambda x: urllib.quote(x),
-    "user": lambda x: util.shortuser(x),
-    "stringescape": lambda x: x.encode('string_escape'),
-    }
-
 def templatepath(name=None):
     '''return location of template file or directory (if no name).
     returns None if not found.'''
@@ -289,3 +138,9 @@ def templatepath(name=None):
         if (name and os.path.exists(p)) or os.path.isdir(p):
             return os.path.normpath(p)
 
+def stringify(thing):
+    '''turn nested template iterator into string.'''
+    if hasattr(thing, '__iter__'):
+        return "".join([stringify(t) for t in thing if t is not None])
+    return str(thing)
+