diff -r b714aac1f7b3 -r e51c0f41f271 mercurial/hg.py
--- a/mercurial/hg.py	Thu Sep 18 13:55:58 2008 +0200
+++ b/mercurial/hg.py	Sat Sep 20 15:00:58 2008 +0200
@@ -239,7 +239,8 @@
         if dest_repo.local():
             fp = dest_repo.opener("hgrc", "w", text=True)
             fp.write("[paths]\n")
-            fp.write("default = %s\n" % abspath)
+            # percent needs to be escaped for ConfigParser
+            fp.write("default = %s\n" % abspath.replace('%', '%%'))
             fp.close()
 
             if update: