diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -3324,7 +3324,8 @@ def help_(ui, name=None, unknowncmd=Fals
                          ('extensioncommands', _('Extension Commands'))):
             if matches[t]:
                 ui.write('%s:\n\n' % title)
-                ui.write(minirst.format(minirst.maketable(matches[t], 1)))
+                rst = ''.join(minirst.maketable(matches[t], 1))
+                ui.write(minirst.format(rst))
         return
 
     if name and name != 'shortlist':
diff --git a/mercurial/help.py b/mercurial/help.py
--- a/mercurial/help.py
+++ b/mercurial/help.py
@@ -58,9 +58,9 @@ def optrst(options, verbose):
     rst = minirst.maketable(data, 1)
 
     if multioccur:
-        rst += _("\n[+] marked option can be specified multiple times\n")
+        rst.append(_("\n[+] marked option can be specified multiple times\n"))
 
-    return rst
+    return ''.join(rst)
 
 # list all option lists
 def opttext(optlist, width, verbose):
diff --git a/mercurial/minirst.py b/mercurial/minirst.py
--- a/mercurial/minirst.py
+++ b/mercurial/minirst.py
@@ -658,7 +658,7 @@ def decorateblocks(blocks, width):
     return lines
 
 def maketable(data, indent=0, header=False):
-    '''Generate an RST table for the given table data'''
+    '''Generate an RST table for the given table data as a list of lines'''
 
     widths = [max(encoding.colwidth(e) for e in c) for c in zip(*data)]
     indent = ' ' * indent
@@ -674,4 +674,4 @@ def maketable(data, indent=0, header=Fal
     if header and len(data) > 1:
         out.insert(2, div)
     out.append(div)
-    return ''.join(out)
+    return out
diff --git a/tests/test-minirst.py b/tests/test-minirst.py
--- a/tests/test-minirst.py
+++ b/tests/test-minirst.py
@@ -237,7 +237,8 @@ data = [['a', 'b', 'c'],
          ['1', '2', '3'],
          ['foo', 'bar', 'baz this list is very very very long man']]
 
-table = minirst.maketable(data, 2, True)
+rst = minirst.maketable(data, 2, True)
+table = ''.join(rst)
 
 print table