new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mercurial/fancyopts.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+import sys, os, getopt
+
+def fancyopts(args, options, state, syntax=''):
+    long=[]
+    short=''
+    map={}
+    dt={}
+
+    def help(state, opt, arg, options=options, syntax=syntax):
+        print "Usage: ", syntax
+
+        for s, l, d, c in options:
+            opt=' '
+            if s: opt = opt + '-' + s + ' '
+            if l: opt = opt + '--' + l + ' '
+            if d: opt = opt + '(' + str(d) + ')'
+            print opt
+            if c: print '   %s' % c
+        sys.exit(0)
+
+    if len(args) == 0:
+        help(state, None, args)
+
+    options=[('h', 'help', help, 'Show usage info')] + options
+    
+    for s, l, d, c in options:
+        map['-'+s] = map['--'+l]=l
+        state[l] = d
+        dt[l] = type(d)
+        if not d is None and not type(d) is type(help): s, l=s+':', l+'='      
+        if s: short = short + s
+        if l: long.append(l)
+
+    if os.environ.has_key("HG_OPTS"):
+        args = os.environ["HG_OPTS"].split() + args
+
+    try:
+        opts, args = getopt.getopt(args, short, long)
+    except getopt.GetoptError:
+        help(state, None, args)
+        sys.exit(-1)
+
+    for opt, arg in opts:
+        if dt[map[opt]] is type(help): state[map[opt]](state,map[opt],arg)
+        elif dt[map[opt]] is type(1): state[map[opt]] = int(arg)
+        elif dt[map[opt]] is type(''): state[map[opt]] = arg
+        elif dt[map[opt]] is type([]): state[map[opt]].append(arg)
+        elif dt[map[opt]] is type(None): state[map[opt]] = 1
+        
+    return args
+