diff -r 890bdf0e33c8 -r da083d9fafab mercurial/templatefuncs.py
--- a/mercurial/templatefuncs.py	Wed May 02 22:56:10 2018 -0700
+++ b/mercurial/templatefuncs.py	Sat May 05 00:16:43 2018 -0700
@@ -608,7 +608,10 @@
             return hexnode
         if not node:
             return hexnode
-    return scmutil.shortesthexnodeidprefix(repo, node, minlength)
+    try:
+        return scmutil.shortesthexnodeidprefix(repo, node, minlength)
+    except error.RepoLookupError:
+        return hexnode
 
 @templatefunc('strip(text[, chars])')
 def strip(context, mapping, args):