diff -r 9fcb6df413c9 -r 2ecce24dfcd3 mercurial/formatter.py
--- a/mercurial/formatter.py	Wed Jun 14 20:56:34 2017 -0400
+++ b/mercurial/formatter.py	Sat Apr 22 19:56:47 2017 +0900
@@ -431,10 +431,13 @@
     assert not (spec.tmpl and spec.mapfile)
     if spec.mapfile:
         return templater.templater.frommapfile(spec.mapfile, cache=cache)
-    return maketemplater(ui, spec.ref, spec.tmpl, cache=cache)
+    return _maketemplater(ui, spec.ref, spec.tmpl, cache=cache)
 
-def maketemplater(ui, topic, tmpl, cache=None):
+def maketemplater(ui, tmpl, cache=None):
     """Create a templater from a string template 'tmpl'"""
+    return _maketemplater(ui, '', tmpl, cache=cache)
+
+def _maketemplater(ui, topic, tmpl, cache=None):
     aliases = ui.configitems('templatealias')
     t = templater.templater(cache=cache, aliases=aliases)
     if tmpl: