diff --git a/hggit/__init__.py b/hggit/__init__.py
index 39a539c9b789600cbddb5f8fa4b4ad2a7aceff0a_aGdnaXQvX19pbml0X18ucHk=..bec3bd68f01127284b44716f6c116484fc1a4d03_aGdnaXQvX19pbml0X18ucHk= 100644
--- a/hggit/__init__.py
+++ b/hggit/__init__.py
@@ -77,10 +77,9 @@
     from mercurial import registrar
     command = registrar.command(cmdtable)
     configitem = registrar.configitem(configtable)
-    compat.registerconfigs(configitem)
     templatekeyword = registrar.templatekeyword()
 
 except (ImportError, AttributeError):
     command = cmdutil.command(cmdtable)
     templatekeyword = compat.templatekeyword()
 
@@ -81,9 +80,12 @@
     templatekeyword = registrar.templatekeyword()
 
 except (ImportError, AttributeError):
     command = cmdutil.command(cmdtable)
     templatekeyword = compat.templatekeyword()
 
+else:
+    compat.registerconfigs(configitem)
+
 # support for `hg clone git://github.com/defunkt/facebox.git`
 # also hg clone git+ssh://git@github.com/schacon/simplegit.git
 for _scheme in util.gitschemes: