diff --git a/mercurial/localrepo.py b/mercurial/localrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/localrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/localrepo.py
@@ -27,11 +27,6 @@ class localrepository:
 
         self.root = os.path.abspath(path)
         self.ui = ui
-
-        if create:
-            os.mkdir(self.path)
-            os.mkdir(self.join("data"))
-
         self.opener = util.opener(self.path)
         self.wopener = util.opener(self.root)
         self.manifest = manifest.manifest(self.opener)
@@ -39,6 +34,13 @@ class localrepository:
         self.tagscache = None
         self.nodetagscache = None
 
+        if create:
+            os.mkdir(self.path)
+            os.mkdir(self.join("data"))
+            f = self.opener("hgrc", "w")
+            f.write("[web]\n")
+            f.write("contact = %s\n" % ui.shortuser(ui.username()))
+
         self.dirstate = dirstate.dirstate(self.opener, ui, self.root)
         try:
             self.ui.readconfig(self.opener("hgrc"))