diff --git a/mercurial/httppeer.py b/mercurial/httppeer.py
--- a/mercurial/httppeer.py
+++ b/mercurial/httppeer.py
@@ -90,7 +90,6 @@
     def __init__(self, ui, path):
         self.path = path
         self.caps = None
-        self.handler = None
         self.urlopener = None
         self.requestbuilder = None
         u = util.url(path)