diff --git a/rust/Cargo.lock b/rust/Cargo.lock
--- a/rust/Cargo.lock
+++ b/rust/Cargo.lock
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # This file is automatically @generated by Cargo.
 # It is not intended for manual editing.
+version = 3
+
 [[package]]
 name = "adler"
 version = "0.2.3"
@@ -826,6 +828,7 @@
  "env_logger",
  "format-bytes",
  "hg-core",
+ "home",
  "lazy_static",
  "log",
  "micro-timer",
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
@@ -167,8 +167,25 @@
             )
         }
     }
-    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 = {
+        if repo_arg.len() == 0 {
+            None
+        } else {
+            let config_val = non_repo_config.get(b"paths", &(repo_arg));
+            match config_val {
+                Some(val) if val.len() > 0 => Some(
+                    home::home_dir()
+                        .unwrap_or_else(|| PathBuf::from("~"))
+                        .as_path()
+                        .join(get_path_from_bytes(val)),
+                ),
+                _ => Some(get_path_from_bytes(&repo_arg).to_owned()),
+            }
+        }
+    };
+    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
@@ -65,19 +65,19 @@
 
 -R with path aliases:
 
+  $ cd c
 TODO: add rhg support for path aliases
 #if no-rhg
-  $ cd c
   $ hg -R default identify
   8580ff50825a tip
   $ hg -R relative identify
   8580ff50825a tip
+#endif
   $ echo '[paths]' >> $HGRCPATH
   $ echo 'relativetohome = a' >> $HGRCPATH
   $ HOME=`pwd`/../ hg -R relativetohome identify
   8580ff50825a tip
   $ cd ..
-#endif
 
 #if no-outer-repo