diff --git a/rust/Cargo.lock b/rust/Cargo.lock
--- a/rust/Cargo.lock
+++ b/rust/Cargo.lock
@@ -831,6 +831,7 @@
  "env_logger",
  "format-bytes",
  "hg-core",
+ "home",
  "lazy_static",
  "log",
  "micro-timer",
diff --git a/rust/hg-core/src/config.rs b/rust/hg-core/src/config.rs
--- a/rust/hg-core/src/config.rs
+++ b/rust/hg-core/src/config.rs
@@ -12,5 +12,5 @@
 mod config;
 mod layer;
 mod values;
-pub use config::{Config, ConfigValueParseError};
+pub use config::{Config, ConfigSource, ConfigValueParseError};
 pub use layer::{ConfigError, ConfigParseError};
diff --git a/rust/hg-core/src/repo.rs b/rust/hg-core/src/repo.rs
--- a/rust/hg-core/src/repo.rs
+++ b/rust/hg-core/src/repo.rs
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
     /// Having two methods would just move that `if` to almost all callers.
     pub fn find(
         config: &Config,
-        explicit_path: Option<&Path>,
+        explicit_path: Option<PathBuf>,
     ) -> Result<Self, RepoError> {
         if let Some(root) = explicit_path {
             if root.join(".hg").is_dir() {
diff --git a/rust/rhg/Cargo.toml b/rust/rhg/Cargo.toml
--- a/rust/rhg/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rust/rhg/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 chrono = "0.4.19"
 clap = "2.33.1"
 derive_more = "0.99"
+home = "0.5.3"
 lazy_static = "1.4.0"
 log = "0.4.11"
 micro-timer = "0.3.1"
diff --git a/rust/rhg/src/main.rs b/rust/rhg/src/main.rs
--- a/rust/rhg/src/main.rs
+++ b/rust/rhg/src/main.rs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 use clap::Arg;
 use clap::ArgMatches;
 use format_bytes::{format_bytes, join};
-use hg::config::Config;
+use hg::config::{Config, ConfigSource};
 use hg::repo::{Repo, RepoError};
 use hg::utils::files::{get_bytes_from_os_str, get_path_from_bytes};
 use hg::utils::SliceExt;
@@ -167,8 +167,74 @@
             )
         }
     }
-    let repo_path = early_args.repo.as_deref().map(get_path_from_bytes);
-    let repo_result = match Repo::find(&non_repo_config, repo_path) {
+    let repo_arg = early_args.repo.unwrap_or(Vec::new());
+    let repo_path: Option<PathBuf> = {
+        if repo_arg.is_empty() {
+            None
+        } else {
+            let local_config = {
+                if std::env::var_os("HGRCSKIPREPO").is_none() {
+                    let current_dir = hg::utils::current_dir();
+                    // TODO: handle errors from current_dir
+                    if let Ok(current_dir_path) = current_dir {
+                        let config_files = vec![
+                            ConfigSource::AbsPath(
+                                current_dir_path.join(".hg/hgrc"),
+                            ),
+                            ConfigSource::AbsPath(
+                                current_dir_path.join(".hg/hgrc-not-shared"),
+                            ),
+                        ];
+                        // TODO: handle errors from
+                        // `load_from_explicit_sources`
+                        Config::load_from_explicit_sources(config_files).ok()
+                    } else {
+                        None
+                    }
+                } else {
+                    None
+                }
+            };
+
+            let non_repo_config_val = {
+                let non_repo_val = non_repo_config.get(b"paths", &repo_arg);
+                match &non_repo_val {
+                    Some(val) if val.len() > 0 => home::home_dir()
+                        .unwrap_or_else(|| PathBuf::from("~"))
+                        .join(get_path_from_bytes(val))
+                        .canonicalize()
+                        // TODO: handle error and make it similar to python
+                        // implementation maybe?
+                        .ok(),
+                    _ => None,
+                }
+            };
+
+            let config_val = match &local_config {
+                None => non_repo_config_val,
+                Some(val) => {
+                    let local_config_val = val.get(b"paths", &repo_arg);
+                    match &local_config_val {
+                        Some(val) if val.len() > 0 => {
+                            // presence of a local_config assures that
+                            // current_dir
+                            // wont result in an Error
+                            let canpath = hg::utils::current_dir()
+                                .unwrap()
+                                .join(get_path_from_bytes(val))
+                                .canonicalize();
+                            canpath.ok().or(non_repo_config_val)
+                        }
+                        _ => non_repo_config_val,
+                    }
+                }
+            };
+            config_val.or(Some(get_path_from_bytes(&repo_arg).to_path_buf()))
+        }
+    };
+
+    let repo_result = match Repo::find(&non_repo_config, repo_path.to_owned())
+    {
         Ok(repo) => Ok(repo),
         Err(RepoError::NotFound { at }) if repo_path.is_none() => {
             // Not finding a repo is not fatal yet, if `-R` was not given
diff --git a/tests/test-globalopts.t b/tests/test-globalopts.t
--- a/tests/test-globalopts.t
+++ b/tests/test-globalopts.t
@@ -65,8 +65,6 @@
 
 -R with path aliases:
 
-TODO: add rhg support for path aliases
-#if no-rhg
   $ cd c
   $ hg -R default identify
   8580ff50825a tip
@@ -81,7 +79,6 @@
   $ HOME=`pwd`/../ hg -R relativetohome identify
   8580ff50825a tip
   $ cd ..
-#endif
 
 #if no-outer-repo