lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm         |  4 ++--
 lib/PublicInbox/InboxWritable.pm | 30 ++++++++++++++----------------
 lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm        | 25 ++++++++++---------------
 script/public-inbox-index        |  2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm
index e9fb5d6f1d53b42043ff6393d014b446aa16e250..d2a0d06bcf0b0abf3948da74630318ea50ba159e 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm
@@ -199,12 +199,12 @@ 	die missing_mod_msg($err) ." required for indexlevel=$indexlevel\n";
 }
 
 sub index_inbox {
-	my ($ibx, $opt) = @_;
+	my ($ibx, $im, $opt) = @_;
 	my $jobs = delete $opt->{jobs} if $opt;
 	if (ref($ibx) && ($ibx->{version} || 1) == 2) {
 		eval { require PublicInbox::V2Writable };
 		die "v2 requirements not met: $@\n" if $@;
-		my $v2w = eval { $ibx->importer(0) } || eval {
+		my $v2w = $im // eval { $ibx->importer(0) } || eval {
 			PublicInbox::V2Writable->new($ibx, {nproc=>$jobs});
 		};
 		if (defined $jobs) {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/InboxWritable.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/InboxWritable.pm
index 9eab394d2d4072e88ece8c864e36bf08b39e4e9d..c73910acb30a754329bf5ce58e998a8775642b3f 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/InboxWritable.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/InboxWritable.pm
@@ -52,22 +52,20 @@ }
 
 sub importer {
 	my ($self, $parallel) = @_;
-	$self->{-importer} ||= do {
-		my $v = $self->{version} || 1;
-		if ($v == 2) {
-			eval { require PublicInbox::V2Writable };
-			die "v2 not supported: $@\n" if $@;
-			my $opt = $self->{-creat_opt};
-			my $v2w = PublicInbox::V2Writable->new($self, $opt);
-			$v2w->{parallel} = $parallel;
-			$v2w;
-		} elsif ($v == 1) {
-			my @arg = (undef, undef, undef, $self);
-			PublicInbox::Import->new(@arg);
-		} else {
-			$! = 78; # EX_CONFIG 5.3.5 local configuration error
-			die "unsupported inbox version: $v\n";
-		}
+	my $v = $self->{version} || 1;
+	if ($v == 2) {
+		eval { require PublicInbox::V2Writable };
+		die "v2 not supported: $@\n" if $@;
+		my $opt = $self->{-creat_opt};
+		my $v2w = PublicInbox::V2Writable->new($self, $opt);
+		$v2w->{parallel} = $parallel;
+		$v2w;
+	} elsif ($v == 1) {
+		my @arg = (undef, undef, undef, $self);
+		PublicInbox::Import->new(@arg);
+	} else {
+		$! = 78; # EX_CONFIG 5.3.5 local configuration error
+		die "unsupported inbox version: $v\n";
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm
index 95d472b05d4d23122da60fd06f0d876301c71ceb..c807bf1014aef78d63f814ed17b4d7ead2840b00 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm
@@ -15,12 +15,10 @@ # commands with a version number suffix (e.g. "xapian-compact-1.5")
 our $XAPIAN_COMPACT = $ENV{XAPIAN_COMPACT} || 'xapian-compact';
 our @COMPACT_OPT = qw(jobs|j=i quiet|q blocksize|b=s no-full|n fuller|F);
 
-sub commit_changes ($$$) {
-	my ($ibx, $tmp, $opt) = @_;
+sub commit_changes ($$$$) {
+	my ($ibx, $im, $tmp, $opt) = @_;
 	my $reshard = $opt->{reshard};
 	my $reindex = $opt->{reindex};
-	my $im = $ibx->importer(0);
-	$im->lock_acquire if !$opt->{-coarse_lock};
 
 	$SIG{INT} or die 'BUG: $SIG{INT} not handled';
 	my @old_shard;
@@ -78,10 +76,7 @@ 				$im->{shards} = $n;
 			}
 		}
 
-		PublicInbox::Admin::index_inbox($ibx, $opt);
-		# implicit lock_release
-	} else {
-		$im->lock_release;
+		PublicInbox::Admin::index_inbox($ibx, $im, $opt);
 	}
 }
 
@@ -98,8 +93,8 @@ 	my ($exe) = @_;
 	which($exe) or die "$exe not found in PATH\n";
 }
 
-sub prepare_reindex ($$) {
-	my ($ibx, $reindex) = @_;
+sub prepare_reindex ($$$) {
+	my ($ibx, $im, $reindex) = @_;
 	if ($ibx->{version} == 1) {
 		my $dir = $ibx->search->xdir(1);
 		my $xdb = Search::Xapian::Database->new($dir);
@@ -107,9 +102,8 @@ 		if (my $lc = $xdb->get_metadata('last_commit')) {
 			$reindex->{from} = $lc;
 		}
 	} else { # v2
-		my $v2w = $ibx->importer(0);
 		my $max;
-		$v2w->git_dir_latest(\$max) or return;
+		$im->git_dir_latest(\$max) or return;
 		my $from = $reindex->{from};
 		my $mm = $ibx->mm;
 		my $v = PublicInbox::Search::SCHEMA_VERSION();
@@ -229,20 +223,21 @@ 		if ($src) {
 			$tmp->{$_} ||= undef for @$src;
 		}
 	}
-	my $im = $ibx->importer(0);
 	my $max = $opt->{jobs} || scalar(@q);
 	$ibx->with_umask(sub {
+		my $im = $ibx->importer(0);
 		$im->lock_acquire;
 
 		# fine-grained locking if we prepare for reindex
 		if (!$opt->{-coarse_lock}) {
-			prepare_reindex($ibx, $reindex);
+			prepare_reindex($ibx, $im, $reindex);
 			$im->lock_release;
 		}
 
 		delete($ibx->{$_}) for (qw(mm over search)); # cleanup
 		process_queue(\@q, $cb, $max, $opt);
-		commit_changes($ibx, $tmp, $opt);
+		$im->lock_acquire if !$opt->{-coarse_lock};
+		commit_changes($ibx, $im, $tmp, $opt);
 	});
 }
 
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-index b/script/public-inbox-index
index 439da15708645c792c0d485818b5611e89a2bc11..139b6e56d267bd6db455bfe2be0cd138645ee7be 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-index
+++ b/script/public-inbox-index
@@ -33,4 +33,4 @@ }
 
 PublicInbox::Admin::require_or_die(keys %$mods);
 PublicInbox::Admin::progress_prepare($opt);
-PublicInbox::Admin::index_inbox($_, $opt) for @ibxs;
+PublicInbox::Admin::index_inbox($_, undef, $opt) for @ibxs;