diff --git a/mercurial/hg.py b/mercurial/hg.py
--- a/mercurial/hg.py
+++ b/mercurial/hg.py
@@ -338,6 +338,9 @@ class localrepository:
 
         if not self.remote:
             self.dirstate = dirstate(self.opener, ui, self.root)
+            try:
+                self.ui.readconfig(self.opener("hgrc"))
+            except IOError: pass
 
     def ignore(self, f):
         if self.ignorelist is None:
diff --git a/mercurial/ui.py b/mercurial/ui.py
--- a/mercurial/ui.py
+++ b/mercurial/ui.py
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ class ui:
         self.debugflag = (self.debugflag or debug)
         self.interactive = (self.interactive and interactive)
 
+    def readconfig(self, fp):
+        self.cdata.readfp(fp)
+
     def config(self, section, val, default=None):
         if self.cdata.has_option(section, val):
             return self.cdata.get(section, val)