diff --git a/hgext/convert/__init__.py b/hgext/convert/__init__.py
--- a/hgext/convert/__init__.py
+++ b/hgext/convert/__init__.py
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@
     default=True,
 )
 configitem('convert', 'svn.trunk',
-    default=None,
+    default='trunk',
 )
 configitem('convert', 'svn.tags',
     default=None,
diff --git a/hgext/convert/subversion.py b/hgext/convert/subversion.py
--- a/hgext/convert/subversion.py
+++ b/hgext/convert/subversion.py
@@ -352,10 +352,7 @@
                 raise error.Abort(_('svn: revision %s is not an integer') %
                                  revs[0])
 
-        trunkcfg = self.ui.config('convert', 'svn.trunk')
-        if trunkcfg is None:
-            trunkcfg = 'trunk'
-        self.trunkname = trunkcfg.strip('/')
+        self.trunkname = self.ui.config('convert', 'svn.trunk').strip('/')
         self.startrev = self.ui.config('convert', 'svn.startrev')
         try:
             self.startrev = int(self.startrev)