On win98 os.path.expanuser('~') does not result in a useable directory. The MSDN recommendation for user specific directories is the use of shell.ShGetSpecialFolder, so use it. For details see: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/shellcc/platform/shell/reference/functions/shgetspecialfolderpath.asp

#!/bin/sh

unset HGUSER
EMAIL="My Name <myname@example.com>"
export EMAIL

hg init test
cd test
touch asdf
hg add asdf
hg commit -d '1000000 0' -m commit-1
hg tip