lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm | 20 ++++++++++----------
 lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm  | 14 ++++++++++----

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
index 5a22e40d086acf5d0b96333aa23a907328a28216..58651687bec4f2d8fe1aa7d864c03ca35c672d3c 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
@@ -191,29 +191,29 @@ 		}
 	};
 }
 
-sub search ($;$$) {
-	my ($self, $over_only, $ctx) = @_;
-	my $srch = $self->{search} ||= eval {
+sub search {
+	my ($self) = @_;
+	my $srch = $self->{search} //= eval {
 		_cleanup_later($self);
 		require PublicInbox::Search;
 		PublicInbox::Search->new($self);
 	};
-	($over_only || eval { $srch->xdb }) ? $srch : do {
-		$ctx and $ctx->{env}->{'psgi.errors'}->print(<<EOF);
-`$self->{name}' search went away unexpectedly
-EOF
-		undef;
-	};
+	(eval { $srch->xdb }) ? $srch : undef;
 }
 
 sub over {
 	$_[0]->{over} //= eval {
-		my $srch = search($_[0], 1) or return;
+		my $srch = $_[0]->{search} //= eval {
+			_cleanup_later($_[0]);
+			require PublicInbox::Search;
+			PublicInbox::Search->new($_[0]);
+		};
 		my $over = PublicInbox::Over->new("$srch->{xpfx}/over.sqlite3");
 		$over->dbh; # may fail
 		$over;
 	};
 }
+
 
 sub try_cat {
 	my ($path) = @_;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
index 47025891a5b6de057aec99ec46859b839dcc068a..22516998098f351bd6cc4cdc470c526957929108 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
@@ -203,16 +203,22 @@ 	require PublicInbox::MboxGz;
 	PublicInbox::MboxGz::mbox_gz($ctx, \&all_ids_cb, 'all');
 }
 
+sub gone ($$) {
+	my ($ctx, $what) = @_;
+	warn "W: `$ctx->{-inbox}->{inboxdir}' $what went away unexpectedly\n";
+	undef;
+}
+
 sub results_cb {
 	my ($ctx) = @_;
-	my $over = $ctx->{-inbox}->over or return;
+	my $over = $ctx->{-inbox}->over or return gone($ctx, 'over');
 	while (1) {
 		while (defined(my $num = shift(@{$ctx->{ids}}))) {
 			my $smsg = $over->get_art($num) or next;
 			return $smsg;
 		}
 		# refill result set
-		my $srch = $ctx->{-inbox}->search(undef, $ctx) or return;
+		my $srch = $ctx->{-inbox}->search or return gone($ctx,'search');
 		my $mset = $srch->mset($ctx->{query}, $ctx->{qopts});
 		my $size = $mset->size or return;
 		$ctx->{qopts}->{offset} += $size;
@@ -223,7 +229,7 @@
 sub results_thread_cb {
 	my ($ctx) = @_;
 
-	my $over = $ctx->{-inbox}->over or return;
+	my $over = $ctx->{-inbox}->over or return gone($ctx, 'over');
 	while (1) {
 		while (defined(my $num = shift(@{$ctx->{xids}}))) {
 			my $smsg = $over->get_art($num) or next;
@@ -234,7 +240,7 @@ 		# refills ctx->{xids}
 		next if $over->expand_thread($ctx);
 
 		# refill result set
-		my $srch = $ctx->{-inbox}->search(undef, $ctx) or return;
+		my $srch = $ctx->{-inbox}->search or return gone($ctx,'search');
 		my $mset = $srch->mset($ctx->{query}, $ctx->{qopts});
 		my $size = $mset->size or return;
 		$ctx->{qopts}->{offset} += $size;