diffhelpers: backport 9e40bc4c1bde from C implementation
9e40bc4c1bde just says "harden testhunk." I don't think this would be
the case, but it makes some sense to avoid negative index.
## Avoid interference from actual test env:unset HGTEST_JOBSunset HGTEST_TIMEOUTunset HGTEST_PORTunset HGTEST_SHELL