diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -5974,33 +5974,7 @@ def serve(ui, repo, **opts):
         service = commandserver.createservice(ui, repo, opts)
         return cmdutil.service(opts, initfn=service.init, runfn=service.run)
 
-    # this way we can check if something was given in the command-line
-    if opts.get('port'):
-        opts['port'] = util.getport(opts.get('port'))
-
-    if repo:
-        baseui = repo.baseui
-    else:
-        baseui = ui
-    optlist = ("name templates style address port prefix ipv6"
-               " accesslog errorlog certificate encoding")
-    for o in optlist.split():
-        val = opts.get(o, '')
-        if val in (None, ''): # should check against default options instead
-            continue
-        baseui.setconfig("web", o, val, 'serve')
-        if repo and repo.ui != baseui:
-            repo.ui.setconfig("web", o, val, 'serve')
-
-    o = opts.get('web_conf') or opts.get('webdir_conf')
-    if not o:
-        if not repo:
-            raise error.RepoError(_("there is no Mercurial repository"
-                                    " here (.hg not found)"))
-        o = repo
-
-    app = hgweb.hgweb(o, baseui=baseui)
-    service = hgweb.httpservice(ui, app, opts)
+    service = hgweb.createservice(ui, repo, opts)
     cmdutil.service(opts, initfn=service.init, runfn=service.run)
 
 @command('^status|st',
diff --git a/mercurial/hgweb/__init__.py b/mercurial/hgweb/__init__.py
--- a/mercurial/hgweb/__init__.py
+++ b/mercurial/hgweb/__init__.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import os
 from ..i18n import _
 
 from .. import (
+    error,
     util,
 )
 
@@ -83,3 +84,32 @@ class httpservice(object):
 
     def run(self):
         self.httpd.serve_forever()
+
+def createservice(ui, repo, opts):
+    # this way we can check if something was given in the command-line
+    if opts.get('port'):
+        opts['port'] = util.getport(opts.get('port'))
+
+    if repo:
+        baseui = repo.baseui
+    else:
+        baseui = ui
+    optlist = ("name templates style address port prefix ipv6"
+               " accesslog errorlog certificate encoding")
+    for o in optlist.split():
+        val = opts.get(o, '')
+        if val in (None, ''): # should check against default options instead
+            continue
+        baseui.setconfig("web", o, val, 'serve')
+        if repo and repo.ui != baseui:
+            repo.ui.setconfig("web", o, val, 'serve')
+
+    o = opts.get('web_conf') or opts.get('webdir_conf')
+    if not o:
+        if not repo:
+            raise error.RepoError(_("there is no Mercurial repository"
+                                    " here (.hg not found)"))
+        o = repo
+
+    app = hgweb(o, baseui=baseui)
+    return httpservice(ui, app, opts)