lib/PublicInbox/LeiToMail.pm  | 4 ----
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm | 3 +--

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiToMail.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiToMail.pm
index 8e58ad110fa8d0f56d82c2d620f6f3cca445c573..99388b5b2efef4b9a08c91a515562b4bea76d51b 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiToMail.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiToMail.pm
@@ -439,10 +439,6 @@ 	my $m = "_post_augment_$self->{base_type}";
 	$self->$m($lei);
 }
 
-sub lock_free {
-	$_[0]->{base_type} =~ /\A(?:maildir|mh|imap|jmap)\z/ ? 1 : 0;
-}
-
 sub write_mail { # via ->wq_do
 	my ($self, $git_dir, $oid, $lei, $kw) = @_;
 	my $not_done = delete $self->{4}; # write end of {each_smsg_done}
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm
index 45a073a06289d3c103e6e3f6f2fe7859b0c8958f..120857b80cfd240a951af01c74de189530558755 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ 		my $ipc_worker_reap = $self->can('ipc_worker_reap');
 		dwaitpid($_, $ipc_worker_reap, $l2m) for @$pids;
 	}
 	$lei->{ovv}->ovv_end($lei);
-	$lei->start_mua if $l2m && !$l2m->lock_free;
+	$lei->start_mua if $l2m;
 	$lei->dclose;
 }
 
@@ -201,7 +201,6 @@ 	if (my $l2m = $lei->{l2m}) {
 		$lei->{1} = $io->[1];
 		$l2m->post_augment($lei);
 		$io->[1] = delete $lei->{1};
-		$lei->start_mua($io->[3]) if $l2m->lock_free;
 	}
 	my $remotes = $self->{remotes} // [];
 	if ($lei->{opt}->{thread}) {