diff --git a/mercurial/interfaces/repository.py b/mercurial/interfaces/repository.py
--- a/mercurial/interfaces/repository.py
+++ b/mercurial/interfaces/repository.py
@@ -1809,6 +1809,9 @@
     def savecommitmessage(text):
         pass
 
+    def writerequirements(requirements):
+        """ writes current repository requirements """
+
 
 class completelocalrepository(
     ilocalrepositorymain, ilocalrepositoryfilestorage
diff --git a/mercurial/localrepo.py b/mercurial/localrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/localrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/localrepo.py
@@ -1297,6 +1297,10 @@
             caps.add(b'bundle2=' + urlreq.quote(capsblob))
         return caps
 
+    def writerequirements(self, requirements):
+        self.requirements = requirements
+        self._writerequirements()
+
     def _writerequirements(self):
         scmutil.writerequires(self.vfs, self.requirements)
 
diff --git a/mercurial/sparse.py b/mercurial/sparse.py
--- a/mercurial/sparse.py
+++ b/mercurial/sparse.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
     mergestate as mergestatemod,
     pathutil,
     pycompat,
-    scmutil,
     util,
 )
 from .utils import hashutil
@@ -601,10 +600,10 @@
 
     if b'exp-sparse' in oldrequires and removing:
         repo.requirements.discard(b'exp-sparse')
-        scmutil.writerequires(repo.vfs, repo.requirements)
+        repo.writerequirements(repo.requirements)
     elif b'exp-sparse' not in oldrequires:
         repo.requirements.add(b'exp-sparse')
-        scmutil.writerequires(repo.vfs, repo.requirements)
+        repo.writerequirements(repo.requirements)
 
     try:
         writeconfig(repo, includes, excludes, profiles)
@@ -613,7 +612,7 @@
         if repo.requirements != oldrequires:
             repo.requirements.clear()
             repo.requirements |= oldrequires
-            scmutil.writerequires(repo.vfs, repo.requirements)
+            repo.writerequirements(repo.requirements)
         writeconfig(repo, oldincludes, oldexcludes, oldprofiles)
         raise
 
diff --git a/mercurial/upgrade.py b/mercurial/upgrade.py
--- a/mercurial/upgrade.py
+++ b/mercurial/upgrade.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
     metadata,
     pycompat,
     revlog,
-    scmutil,
     util,
     vfs as vfsmod,
 )
@@ -1091,9 +1090,7 @@
             b'unable to read from repository\n'
         )
     )
-    scmutil.writerequires(
-        srcrepo.vfs, srcrepo.requirements | {b'upgradeinprogress'}
-    )
+    srcrepo.writerequirements(srcrepo.requirements | {b'upgradeinprogress'})
 
     ui.status(_(b'starting in-place swap of repository data\n'))
     ui.status(_(b'replaced files will be backed up at %s\n') % backuppath)
@@ -1122,7 +1119,7 @@
             b'again\n'
         )
     )
-    scmutil.writerequires(srcrepo.vfs, requirements)
+    srcrepo.writerequirements(requirements)
 
     # The lock file from the old store won't be removed because nothing has a
     # reference to its new location. So clean it up manually. Alternatively, we