diff --git a/contrib/hg-to-git/hg-to-git.py b/contrib/hg-to-git/hg-to-git.py
index 61540ef806e..7b03204ed18 100755
--- a/contrib/hg-to-git/hg-to-git.py
+++ b/contrib/hg-to-git/hg-to-git.py
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ def getgitenv(user, date):
 
 if not hgvers.has_key("0"):
     print 'creating repository'
-    os.system('git init-db')
+    os.system('git init')
 
 # loop through every hg changeset
 for cset in range(int(tip) + 1):