diff --git a/mercurial/help.py b/mercurial/help.py
--- a/mercurial/help.py
+++ b/mercurial/help.py
@@ -36,7 +36,10 @@
     util,
 )
 from .hgweb import webcommands
-from .utils import compression
+from .utils import (
+    compression,
+    resourceutil,
+)
 
 _exclkeywords = {
     b"(ADVANCED)",
@@ -311,7 +314,7 @@
     """Return a delayed loader for help/topic.txt."""
 
     def loader(ui):
-        docdir = os.path.join(util.datapath, b'helptext')
+        docdir = os.path.join(resourceutil.datapath, b'helptext')
         if subdir:
             docdir = os.path.join(docdir, subdir)
         path = os.path.join(docdir, topic + b".txt")
diff --git a/mercurial/rcutil.py b/mercurial/rcutil.py
--- a/mercurial/rcutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/rcutil.py
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
     util,
 )
 
+from .utils import resourceutil
+
 if pycompat.iswindows:
     from . import scmwindows as scmplatform
 else:
@@ -62,7 +64,7 @@
 def defaultrcpath():
     '''return rc paths in defaultrc'''
     path = []
-    defaultpath = os.path.join(util.datapath, b'defaultrc')
+    defaultpath = os.path.join(resourceutil.datapath, b'defaultrc')
     if os.path.isdir(defaultpath):
         path = _expandrcpath(defaultpath)
     return path
diff --git a/mercurial/templater.py b/mercurial/templater.py
--- a/mercurial/templater.py
+++ b/mercurial/templater.py
@@ -80,7 +80,10 @@
     templateutil,
     util,
 )
-from .utils import stringutil
+from .utils import (
+    resourceutil,
+    stringutil,
+)
 
 # template parsing
 
@@ -1042,7 +1045,10 @@
 def templatepaths():
     '''return locations used for template files.'''
     pathsrel = [b'templates']
-    paths = [os.path.normpath(os.path.join(util.datapath, f)) for f in pathsrel]
+    paths = [
+        os.path.normpath(os.path.join(resourceutil.datapath, f))
+        for f in pathsrel
+    ]
     return [p for p in paths if os.path.isdir(p)]
 
 
diff --git a/mercurial/util.py b/mercurial/util.py
--- a/mercurial/util.py
+++ b/mercurial/util.py
@@ -54,7 +54,6 @@
 from .utils import (
     compression,
     procutil,
-    resourceutil,
     stringutil,
 )
 
@@ -1823,9 +1822,6 @@
     return pycompat.ossep.join(([b'..'] * len(a)) + b) or b'.'
 
 
-datapath = resourceutil.datapath
-
-
 def checksignature(func):
     '''wrap a function with code to check for calling errors'''