lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm | 5 ++++-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm
index 1c2a97588e3432960d87ad50390f20bf35317adf..51dbf54f2a1a6dada2d98c1d460b0fe633b2f30f 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm
@@ -896,7 +896,10 @@ 	return unless eidxq_lock_acquire($self);
 	my ($iter, $cur_mid);
 	my $min_id = 0;
 	my $idx = 0;
-	local $sync->{-regen_fmt} = "dedupe %u/".$self->{oidx}->max."\n";
+	my ($max_id) = $self->{oidx}->dbh->selectrow_array(<<EOS);
+SELECT MAX(id) FROM msgid
+EOS
+	local $sync->{-regen_fmt} = "dedupe %u/$max_id\n";
 
 	# note: we could write this query more intelligently,
 	# but that causes lock contention with read-only processes