diff --git a/hggit/__init__.py b/hggit/__init__.py
index ee35818401e546eccbc83a7726975ba5b28a456f_aGdnaXQvX19pbml0X18ucHk=..19a4d34f3557d52995096d1d0b24ced50e726681_aGdnaXQvX19pbml0X18ucHk= 100644
--- a/hggit/__init__.py
+++ b/hggit/__init__.py
@@ -75,8 +75,12 @@
 try:
     from mercurial import registrar
     command = registrar.command(cmdtable)
+except (ImportError, AttributeError):
+    command = cmdutil.command(cmdtable)
+
+try:
     configitem = registrar.configitem(configtable)
     compat.registerconfigs(configitem)
     templatekeyword = registrar.templatekeyword()
 
 except (ImportError, AttributeError):
@@ -78,9 +82,8 @@
     configitem = registrar.configitem(configtable)
     compat.registerconfigs(configitem)
     templatekeyword = registrar.templatekeyword()
 
 except (ImportError, AttributeError):
-    command = cmdutil.command(cmdtable)
     templatekeyword = compat.templatekeyword()
 
 # support for `hg clone git://github.com/defunkt/facebox.git`