diff --git a/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/hg/HgCommitMetadata.java b/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/hg/HgCommitMetadata.java
index 8c6cb9130..0b3be69f0 100644
--- a/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/hg/HgCommitMetadata.java
+++ b/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/hg/HgCommitMetadata.java
@@ -28,10 +28,33 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.*;
 import java.time.*;
+import java.time.format.DateTimeParseException;
 import java.time.format.*;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 
 class HgCommitMetadata {
+    private static final String delimiter = "#@!_-=&";
+    private static final String hash = "{node}";
+    private static final String rev = "{rev}";
+    private static final String branch = "{branch}";
+    private static final String parentHashes = "{p1.node} {p2.node}";
+    private static final String parentRevs = "{p1.rev} {p2.rev}";
+    private static final String user = "{user}";
+    private static final String date = "{date|rfc3339date}";
+    private static final String descLen = "{desc|count}";
+    private static final String desc = "{desc}";
+
+    public static final String TEMPLATE = String.join("\n",
+                                                      delimiter,
+                                                      hash,
+                                                      rev,
+                                                      branch,
+                                                      parentHashes,
+                                                      parentRevs,
+                                                      user,
+                                                      date,
+                                                      descLen,
+                                                      desc);
     public static CommitMetadata read(UnixStreamReader reader) throws IOException {
         var hash = new Hash(reader.readLine());
 
@@ -46,8 +69,17 @@ public static CommitMetadata read(UnixStreamReader reader) throws IOException {
 
         var author = Author.fromString(reader.readLine());
 
-        var formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd H:m:sZ");
-        var authored = ZonedDateTime.parse(reader.readLine(), formatter);
+        // ext.py and hg uses slightly different time formats
+        ZonedDateTime authored = null;
+        var date = reader.readLine();
+        try {
+            // ext.py
+            var formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd H:m:sZ");
+            authored = ZonedDateTime.parse(date, formatter);
+        } catch (DateTimeParseException e) {
+            // hg's rfc3339date
+            authored = ZonedDateTime.parse(date, DateTimeFormatter.ISO_OFFSET_DATE_TIME);
+        }
 
         var messageSize = Integer.parseInt(reader.readLine());
         var messageBuffer = reader.read(messageSize);
diff --git a/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/hg/HgRepository.java b/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/hg/HgRepository.java
index 4ee5b2705..fbdb3508b 100644
--- a/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/hg/HgRepository.java
+++ b/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/hg/HgRepository.java
@@ -273,18 +273,16 @@ public List<CommitMetadata> commitMetadata(Hash from, Hash to, List<Path> paths,
 
     @Override
     public List<CommitMetadata> commitMetadata(String range, List<Path> paths, boolean reverse) throws IOException {
-        var ext = Files.createTempFile("ext", ".py");
-        copyResource(EXT_PY, ext);
-
-        var args = new ArrayList<String>();
-        args.addAll(List.of("hg", "--config", "extensions.dump=" + ext.toAbsolutePath().toString(), "metadata"));
+        var cmd = new ArrayList<String>();
+        cmd.addAll(List.of("hg", "log", "--template", HgCommitMetadata.TEMPLATE));
         range = range == null ? "tip:0" : range;
         var revset = reverse ? "reverse(" + range + ")" : range;
-        args.add(revset);
+        cmd.add("--rev");
+        cmd.add(revset);
         if (paths != null && !paths.isEmpty()) {
-            args.add(paths.stream().map(Path::toString).collect(Collectors.joining("\t")));
+            cmd.addAll(paths.stream().map(Path::toString).collect(Collectors.toList()));
         }
-        var p = start(args);
+        var p = start(cmd);
         var reader = new UnixStreamReader(p.getInputStream());
         var result = new ArrayList<CommitMetadata>();