diff --git a/mercurial/configitems.py b/mercurial/configitems.py
--- a/mercurial/configitems.py
+++ b/mercurial/configitems.py
@@ -628,6 +628,9 @@ coreconfigitem('web', 'errorlog',
 coreconfigitem('web', 'ipv6',
     default=False,
 )
+coreconfigitem('web', 'port',
+    default=8000,
+)
 coreconfigitem('worker', 'backgroundclose',
     default=dynamicdefault,
 )
diff --git a/mercurial/hgweb/server.py b/mercurial/hgweb/server.py
--- a/mercurial/hgweb/server.py
+++ b/mercurial/hgweb/server.py
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ def create_server(ui, app):
         sys.setdefaultencoding(oldenc)
 
     address = ui.config('web', 'address')
-    port = util.getport(ui.config('web', 'port', 8000))
+    port = util.getport(ui.config('web', 'port'))
     try:
         return cls(ui, app, (address, port), handler)
     except socket.error as inst: