diff -r ef1032c223e7 -r 6ca49c5fe268 mercurial/hg.py
--- a/mercurial/hg.py	Sat Sep 09 18:25:06 2006 -0700
+++ b/mercurial/hg.py	Sat Sep 09 18:25:07 2006 -0700
@@ -176,9 +176,10 @@
     else:
         revs = None
         if rev:
-            if not src_repo.local():
-                raise util.Abort(_("clone by revision not supported yet "
-                                   "for remote repositories"))
+            if 'lookup' not in src_repo.capabilities:
+                raise util.Abort(_("src repository does not support revision "
+                                   "lookup and so doesn't support clone by "
+                                   "revision"))
             revs = [src_repo.lookup(r) for r in rev]
 
         if dest_repo.local():