diff --git a/mercurial/localrepo.py b/mercurial/localrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/localrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/localrepo.py
@@ -683,8 +683,10 @@ class localrepository(repo.repository):
         return l
 
     def lock(self, wait=True):
-        if self._lockref and self._lockref():
-            return self._lockref()
+        l = self._lockref and self._lockref()
+        if l is not None and l.held:
+            l.lock()
+            return l
 
         l = self._lock(self.sjoin("lock"), wait, None, self.invalidate,
                        _('repository %s') % self.origroot)
@@ -692,8 +694,10 @@ class localrepository(repo.repository):
         return l
 
     def wlock(self, wait=True):
-        if self._wlockref and self._wlockref():
-            return self._wlockref()
+        l = self._wlockref and self._wlockref()
+        if l is not None and l.held:
+            l.lock()
+            return l
 
         l = self._lock(self.join("wlock"), wait, self.dirstate.write,
                        self.dirstate.invalidate, _('working directory of %s') %
diff --git a/mercurial/lock.py b/mercurial/lock.py
--- a/mercurial/lock.py
+++ b/mercurial/lock.py
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ class lock(object):
         self.lock()
 
     def __del__(self):
+        if self.held:
+            # ensure the lock will be removed
+            # even if recursive locking did occur
+            self.held = 1
+
         self.release()
 
     def lock(self):
@@ -45,6 +50,9 @@ class lock(object):
                                      inst.locker)
 
     def trylock(self):
+        if self.held:
+            self.held += 1
+            return
         if lock._host is None:
             lock._host = socket.gethostname()
         lockname = '%s:%s' % (lock._host, os.getpid())
@@ -97,7 +105,9 @@ class lock(object):
             return locker
 
     def release(self):
-        if self.held:
+        if self.held > 1:
+            self.held -= 1
+        elif self.held is 1:
             self.held = 0
             if self.releasefn:
                 self.releasefn()
@@ -105,3 +115,8 @@ class lock(object):
                 os.unlink(self.f)
             except: pass
 
+def release(*locks):
+    for lock in locks:
+        if lock is not None:
+            lock.release()
+