--- /usr/portage/eclass/mercurial.eclass	2009-01-16 09:11:37.000000000 +0100
+++ eclass/mercurial.eclass	2009-01-16 14:24:45.000000000 +0100
@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@
 
 # These can be set by the ebuild but are usually fine as-is
 : ${EHG_PROJECT:=$PN}            # dir under EHG_STORE_DIR
-: ${EHG_CLONE_CMD:=hg clone}     # clone cmd
-: ${EHG_PULL_CMD:=hg pull -u}    # pull cmd
+: ${EHG_CLONE_CMD:=hg clone --pull}     # clone cmd
+: ${EHG_PULL_CMD:=hg pull -u -C}    # pull cmd; update and clean out local changes
+: ${EHG_CLONE_CMD_NOUPDATE:=hg clone --pull -U}     # clone cmd; no working copy
+: ${EHG_PULL_CMD_NOUPDATE:=hg pull}    # pull cmd; no updating
 
 # should be set but blank to prevent using $HOME/.hgrc
 export HGRCPATH=
@@ -44,19 +46,20 @@
 	addwrite "$(pwd -P)"
 
 	if [[ ! -d ${EHG_PROJECT}/${module} ]]; then
-		# first check out
-		ebegin "${EHG_CLONE_CMD} ${repo}"
+		# first check out - if it fails, remove the dir again. 
+		ebegin "${EHG_CLONE_CMD_NOUPDATE} ${repo}"
 		mkdir -p "${EHG_PROJECT}" &&
 			chmod -f g+rw "${EHG_PROJECT}" &&
 			cd "${EHG_PROJECT}" &&
-			${EHG_CLONE_CMD} "${repo}" "${module}" &&
-			cd "${module}"
+			${EHG_CLONE_CMD_NOUPDATE} "${repo}" "${module}" &&
+			cd "${module}" || 
+			rm -r "${module}"
 		eend $? || die
 	else
 		# update working copy
-		ebegin "${EHG_PULL_CMD} ${repo}"
+		ebegin "${EHG_PULL_CMD_NOUPDATE} ${repo}"
 		cd "${EHG_PROJECT}/${module}" &&
-			${EHG_PULL_CMD}
+			${EHG_PULL_CMD_NOUPDATE}
 		case $? in
 			# hg pull returns status 1 when there were no changes to pull
 			1) eend 0 ;;
@@ -64,11 +67,27 @@
 		esac
 	fi
 
-	# use rsync instead of cp for --exclude
-	ebegin "rsync to ${WORKDIR}/${module}"
-	mkdir -p "${WORKDIR}/${module}" &&
-		rsync -a --delete --exclude=.hg/ . "${WORKDIR}/${module}"
-	eend $? || die
+	# use Mercurial instead of cp or rsync, 
+	# as that saves space in distfiles and some setup.py scripts might depend on
+	# being run in an hg repository (For example the one from Mercurial does). 
+	if [[ ! -d ${WORKDIR}/${module} ]]; then 
+		# clone to workdir, remove the created dir if the clone fails. 
+		ebegin "${EHG_CLONE_CMD} ${EHG_STORE_DIR}/${EHG_PROJECT}/${module} ${WORKDIR}/${module}"
+		mkdir -p "${WORKDIR}" &&
+			${EHG_CLONE_CMD} ${EHG_STORE_DIR}/${EHG_PROJECT}/${module} ${WORKDIR}/${module} ||
+			rm -r "${WORKDIR}/${module}"
+		eend $? || die
+	else
+		# pull from workdir
+		ebegin "${EHG_PULL_CMD} ${EHG_PROJECT}/${module}"
+		cd "${WORKDIR}/${module}" &&
+			${EHG_PULL_CMD}
+		case $? in
+			# hg pull returns status 1 when there were no changes to pull
+			1) eend 0 ;;
+			*) eend $? || die ;;
+		esac
+	fi
 
 	popd >/dev/null
 }