diff --git a/swh/loader/mercurial/hgutil.py b/swh/loader/mercurial/hgutil.py
--- a/swh/loader/mercurial/hgutil.py
+++ b/swh/loader/mercurial/hgutil.py
@@ -5,19 +5,15 @@
 
 from collections import defaultdict
 from dataclasses import dataclass
-import io
-import os
-import signal
-import time
-import traceback
+from functools import partial
 from typing import Dict, List, Mapping, NewType, Optional, Set
 
-from billiard import Process, Queue
-
 # The internal Mercurial API is not guaranteed to be stable.
 from mercurial import bookmarks, context, error, hg, smartset, util  # type: ignore
 import mercurial.ui  # type: ignore
 
+from swh.loader.core.utils import clone_with_timeout
+
 NULLID = mercurial.node.nullid
 HgNodeId = NewType("HgNodeId", bytes)
 Repository = hg.localrepo
@@ -116,64 +112,13 @@
     )
 
 
-class CloneTimeout(Exception):
-    pass
-
-
-class CloneFailure(Exception):
-    pass
-
-
-def _clone_task(src: str, dest: str, errors: Queue) -> None:
-    """Clone task to run in a subprocess.
-
-    Args:
-        src: clone source
-        dest: clone destination
-        errors: message queue to communicate errors
-    """
-    try:
-        hg.clone(
-            ui=mercurial.ui.ui.load(),
-            peeropts={},
-            source=src.encode(),
-            dest=dest.encode(),
-            update=False,
-        )
-    except Exception as e:
-        exc_buffer = io.StringIO()
-        traceback.print_exc(file=exc_buffer)
-        errors.put_nowait(exc_buffer.getvalue())
-        raise e
-
-
-def clone(src: str, dest: str, timeout: float) -> None:
-    """Clone a repository with timeout.
-
-    Args:
-        src: clone source
-        dest: clone destination
-        timeout: timeout in seconds
-    """
-    errors: Queue = Queue()
-    process = Process(target=_clone_task, args=(src, dest, errors))
-    process.start()
-    process.join(timeout)
-
-    if process.is_alive():
-        process.terminate()
-        # Give it literally a second (in successive steps of 0.1 second), then kill it.
-        # Can't use `process.join(1)` here, billiard appears to be bugged
-        # https://github.com/celery/billiard/issues/270
-        killed = False
-        for _ in range(10):
-            time.sleep(0.1)
-            if not process.is_alive():
-                break
-        else:
-            killed = True
-            os.kill(process.pid, signal.SIGKILL)
-        raise CloneTimeout(src, timeout, killed)
-
-    if not errors.empty():
-        raise CloneFailure(src, dest, errors.get())
+def clone(src: str, dest: str, timeout: float):
+    closure = partial(
+        hg.clone,
+        ui=mercurial.ui.ui.load(),
+        peeropts={},
+        source=src.encode(),
+        dest=dest.encode(),
+        update=False,
+    )
+    clone_with_timeout(src, dest, closure, timeout)
diff --git a/swh/loader/mercurial/tests/test_hgutil.py b/swh/loader/mercurial/tests/test_hgutil.py
deleted file mode 100644
--- a/swh/loader/mercurial/tests/test_hgutil.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,51 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2020-2021  The Software Heritage developers
-# See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
-# License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
-# See top-level LICENSE file for more information
-import signal
-import time
-import traceback
-
-from mercurial import hg  # type: ignore
-import pytest
-
-from .. import hgutil
-
-
-def test_clone_timeout(monkeypatch):
-    src = "https://www.mercurial-scm.org/repo/hello"
-    dest = "/dev/null"
-    timeout = 1
-    sleepy_time = 100 * timeout
-    assert sleepy_time > timeout
-
-    def clone(*args, **kwargs):
-        # ignore SIGTERM to force sigkill
-        signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, lambda signum, frame: None)
-        time.sleep(sleepy_time)  # we make sure we exceed the timeout
-
-    monkeypatch.setattr(hg, "clone", clone)
-
-    with pytest.raises(hgutil.CloneTimeout) as e:
-        hgutil.clone(src, dest, timeout)
-    killed = True
-    assert e.value.args == (src, timeout, killed)
-
-
-def test_clone_error(caplog, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
-    src = "https://www.mercurial-scm.org/repo/hello"
-    dest = "/dev/null"
-    expected_traceback = "Some traceback"
-
-    def clone(*args, **kwargs):
-        raise ValueError()
-
-    def print_exc(file):
-        file.write(expected_traceback)
-
-    monkeypatch.setattr(hg, "clone", clone)
-    monkeypatch.setattr(traceback, "print_exc", print_exc)
-
-    with pytest.raises(hgutil.CloneFailure) as e:
-        hgutil.clone(src, dest, 1)
-    assert e.value.args == (src, dest, expected_traceback)