Documentation/mknews.perl                |   8 ++++----
 Documentation/public-inbox-index.pod     |  19 ++++++++++++++++++-
 Documentation/public-inbox-v1-format.pod |   2 +-
 Documentation/public-inbox-v2-format.pod |   2 +-
 MANIFEST                                 |   1 +
 README                                   |   1 +
 lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm                 |  96 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------
 lib/PublicInbox/Config.pm                |  62 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------------------
 lib/PublicInbox/DS.pm                    |  49 ++++++++++++++-----------------------------------
 lib/PublicInbox/DSKQXS.pm                |   2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/DSPoll.pm                |   3 +--
 lib/PublicInbox/Daemon.pm                |  17 ++++++-----------
 lib/PublicInbox/Eml.pm                   |   4 +++-
 lib/PublicInbox/ExtMsg.pm                |   2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearch.pm             |   6 +-----
 lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm          | 234 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------
 lib/PublicInbox/Gcf2.pm                  |   2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm                   |   6 ++----
 lib/PublicInbox/IMAP.pm                  |   2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm                |   9 +++++----
 lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm                 |  23 +++++++++--------------
 lib/PublicInbox/InboxIdle.pm             |  35 ++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------
 lib/PublicInbox/InboxWritable.pm         |  11 +++++------
 lib/PublicInbox/Isearch.pm               |   6 +++---
 lib/PublicInbox/ManifestJsGz.pm          |   7 +++++++
 lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm                  |   2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/MiscIdx.pm               |  26 ++++++++++++++++++--------
 lib/PublicInbox/MiscSearch.pm            |  61 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
 lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm                 |   4 +++-
 lib/PublicInbox/OverIdx.pm               |   8 ++++++--
 lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm                |  34 +++++++++++++++++++++-------------
 lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm             |  13 ++++---------
 lib/PublicInbox/Syscall.pm               |  66 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------------------
 lib/PublicInbox/Unsubscribe.pm           |   9 ++++++---
 lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm            |  55 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------
 lib/PublicInbox/WWW.pm                   |   2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/Watch.pm                 |   6 +++---
 lib/PublicInbox/WwwListing.pm            |   3 +++
 lib/PublicInbox/WwwStream.pm             |  27 +++++++++++++++------------
 lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm                |   1 -
 script/public-inbox-convert              |  28 +++++++---------------------
 script/public-inbox-edit                 |   3 ++-
 script/public-inbox-extindex             |  38 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------
 script/public-inbox-index                |  60 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
 script/public-inbox-init                 |  16 +++-------------
 script/public-inbox-learn                |   3 +--
 script/public-inbox-purge                |   2 +-
 t/admin.t                                |  16 ++++++++++------
 t/config.t                               |   3 ++-
 t/ds-poll.t                              |  28 ++++++++++++++--------------
 t/epoll.t                                |   8 ++++----
 t/git.t                                  |   5 +++++
 t/imapd.t                                |  26 +++++---------------------
 t/search.t                               |   4 ++--
 xt/create-many-inboxes.t                 |  99 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

diff --git a/Documentation/mknews.perl b/Documentation/mknews.perl
index d87c260918c9c048544375ebf3c370fb8b6565f3..a11dd5f01fde6dd77041049db7a8d3bed76e3c06 100755
--- a/Documentation/mknews.perl
+++ b/Documentation/mknews.perl
@@ -119,10 +119,10 @@ 	print $out $www_stream->html_top, '<pre>' or die;
 }
 
 sub html_end {
-	print $out <<EOF or die;
-	git clone $PublicInbox::WwwStream::CODE_URL
-</pre></body></html>
-EOF
+	for (@$PublicInbox::WwwStream::CODE_URL) {
+		print $out "	git clone $_\n" or die;
+	}
+	print $out "</pre></body></html>\n" or die;
 }
 
 sub atom_start {
diff --git a/Documentation/public-inbox-index.pod b/Documentation/public-inbox-index.pod
index 0848e8604c8aa842a9fdcda6aec4026a45f9442b..2d5df93087796424455a4118835580f8ff3846be 100644
--- a/Documentation/public-inbox-index.pod
+++ b/Documentation/public-inbox-index.pod
@@ -162,6 +162,23 @@ See L<public-inbox-init(1)/--skip-docdata> for description and caveats.
 
 Available in public-inbox 1.6.0+.
 
+=item --update-extindex=EXTINDEX, -E
+
+Update the given external index (L<public-inbox-extindex-format(5)>.
+Either the configured section name (e.g. C<all>) or a directory name
+may be specified.
+
+Defaults to C<all> if C<[extindex "all"]> is configured,
+otherwise no external indices are updated.
+
+May be specified multiple times in rare cases where multiple
+external indices are configured.
+
+=item --no-update-extindex
+
+Do not update the C<all> external index by default.  This negates
+all uses of C<-E> / C<--update-extindex=> on the command-line.
+
 =back
 
 =head1 FILES
@@ -297,4 +314,4 @@ License: AGPL-3.0+ L<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt>
 
 =head1 SEE ALSO
 
-L<Search::Xapian>, L<DBD::SQLite>
+L<Search::Xapian>, L<DBD::SQLite>, L<public-inbox-extindex-format(5)>
diff --git a/Documentation/public-inbox-v1-format.pod b/Documentation/public-inbox-v1-format.pod
index e5b1dd06732ec323573dea7f10167006aedf16ac..da19d2c973b4684a2b466d6bceb81e986affdade 100644
--- a/Documentation/public-inbox-v1-format.pod
+++ b/Documentation/public-inbox-v1-format.pod
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ % public-inbox developer manual
 
 =head1 NAME
 
-public-inbox v1 git repository and tree description (aka "ssoma")
+public-inbox-v1-format - git repository and tree description (aka "ssoma")
 
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
 
diff --git a/Documentation/public-inbox-v2-format.pod b/Documentation/public-inbox-v2-format.pod
index d6282cb4b884b783ed939307f7be2ff3a7bf2e8b..3c89f13e92ff899499545e01a4c6256ecd40db5d 100644
--- a/Documentation/public-inbox-v2-format.pod
+++ b/Documentation/public-inbox-v2-format.pod
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ % public-inbox developer manual
 
 =head1 NAME
 
-public-inbox v2 format description
+public-inbox-v2-format - structure of public inbox v2 archives
 
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
 
diff --git a/MANIFEST b/MANIFEST
index c890f65ba4ee797956afbbb837dc96177aff1859..a5ff81cf80428f182ec167995bb676408d68c316 100644
--- a/MANIFEST
+++ b/MANIFEST
@@ -408,6 +408,7 @@ t/x-unknown-alpine.eml
 t/xcpdb-reshard.t
 xt/cmp-msgstr.t
 xt/cmp-msgview.t
+xt/create-many-inboxes.t
 xt/eml_check_limits.t
 xt/git-http-backend.t
 xt/git_async_cmp.t
diff --git a/README b/README
index ae428bcfe11796657c97913dabdf45b5a2bc9fd2..6396373f4c57f7621256545ead60dd5bf2352c5c 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ AGPL source code is available via git:
 
 	git clone https://public-inbox.org/public-inbox.git
 	git clone https://repo.or.cz/public-inbox.git
+	torsocks git clone http://ou63pmih66umazou.onion/public-inbox.git
 	torsocks git clone http://hjrcffqmbrq6wope.onion/public-inbox
 
 See below for contact info.
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm
index 3977d8125fda558cd060a258be780d8ca0bd5afc..d414e4e205d95167b5a2cad241936fc12cd55d6b 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Admin.pm
@@ -6,15 +6,15 @@ # Unstable internal API
 package PublicInbox::Admin;
 use strict;
 use parent qw(Exporter);
-use Cwd qw(abs_path);
-use POSIX ();
 our @EXPORT_OK = qw(setup_signals);
 use PublicInbox::Config;
 use PublicInbox::Inbox;
 use PublicInbox::Spawn qw(popen_rd);
+*rel2abs_collapsed = \&PublicInbox::Config::rel2abs_collapsed;
 
 sub setup_signals {
 	my ($cb, $arg) = @_; # optional
+	require POSIX;
 
 	# we call exit() here instead of _exit() so DESTROY methods
 	# get called (e.g. File::Temp::Dir and PublicInbox::Msgmap)
@@ -29,19 +29,32 @@ }
 
 sub resolve_inboxdir {
 	my ($cd, $ver) = @_;
-	my $prefix = defined $cd ? $cd : './';
-	if (-d $prefix && -f "$prefix/inbox.lock") { # v2
-		$$ver = 2 if $ver;
-		return abs_path($prefix);
+	my $try = $cd // '.';
+	my $root_dev_ino;
+	while (1) { # favor v2, first
+		if (-f "$try/inbox.lock") {
+			$$ver = 2 if $ver;
+			return rel2abs_collapsed($try);
+		} elsif (-d $try) {
+			my @try = stat _;
+			$root_dev_ino //= do {
+				my @root = stat('/') or die "stat /: $!\n";
+				"$root[0]\0$root[1]";
+			};
+			last if "$try[0]\0$try[1]" eq $root_dev_ino;
+			$try .= '/..'; # continue, cd up
+		} else {
+			die "`$try' is not a directory\n";
+		}
 	}
+	# try v1 bare git dirs
 	my $cmd = [ qw(git rev-parse --git-dir) ];
 	my $fh = popen_rd($cmd, undef, {-C => $cd});
 	my $dir = do { local $/; <$fh> };
-	close $fh or die "error in ".join(' ', @$cmd)." (cwd:$cd): $!\n";
+	close $fh or die "error in @$cmd (cwd:${\($cd // '.')}): $!\n";
 	chomp $dir;
 	$$ver = 1 if $ver;
-	return abs_path($cd) if ($dir eq '.' && defined $cd);
-	abs_path($dir);
+	rel2abs_collapsed($dir eq '.' ? ($cd // $dir) : $dir);
 }
 
 # for unconfigured inboxes
@@ -78,8 +91,8 @@ 	PublicInbox::Inbox->new({
 		name => $name,
 		address => [ "$name\@example.com" ],
 		inboxdir => $dir,
-		# TODO: consumers may want to warn on this:
-		#-unconfigured => 1,
+		# consumers (-convert) warn on this:
+		-unconfigured => 1,
 	});
 }
 
@@ -95,41 +108,53 @@ 		@$argv and die "--all specified, but directories specified\n";
 	}
 
 	my $min_ver = $opt->{-min_inbox_version} || 0;
+	# lookup inboxes by st_dev + st_ino instead of {inboxdir} pathnames,
+	# pathnames are not unique due to symlinks and bind mounts
 	my (@old, @ibxs);
-	my %dir2ibx;
-	my $all = $opt->{all} ? [] : undef;
-	if ($cfg) {
+	if ($opt->{all}) {
 		$cfg->each_inbox(sub {
 			my ($ibx) = @_;
-			my $path = abs_path($ibx->{inboxdir});
-			if (defined($path)) {
-				$dir2ibx{$path} = $ibx;
-				push @$all, $ibx if $all;
+			if (-e $ibx->{inboxdir}) {
+				push(@ibxs, $ibx) if $ibx->version >= $min_ver;
 			} else {
-				warn <<EOF;
-W: $ibx->{name} $ibx->{inboxdir}: $!
-EOF
+				warn "W: $ibx->{name} $ibx->{inboxdir}: $!\n";
 			}
 		});
-	}
-	if ($all) {
-		@$all = grep { $_->version >= $min_ver } @$all;
-		@ibxs = @$all;
 	} else { # directories specified on the command-line
-		my $i = 0;
 		my @dirs = @$argv;
 		push @dirs, '.' if !@dirs && $opt->{-use_cwd};
-		foreach (@dirs) {
-			my $v;
-			my $dir = resolve_inboxdir($_, \$v);
-			if ($v < $min_ver) {
+		my %s2i; # "st_dev\0st_ino" => array index
+		for (my $i = 0; $i <= $#dirs; $i++) {
+			my $dir = $dirs[$i];
+			my @st = stat($dir) or die "stat($dir): $!\n";
+			$dir = $dirs[$i] = resolve_inboxdir($dir, \(my $ver));
+			if ($ver >= $min_ver) {
+				$s2i{"$st[0]\0$st[1]"} //= $i;
+			} else {
 				push @old, $dir;
-				next;
 			}
-			my $ibx = $dir2ibx{$dir} ||= unconfigured_ibx($dir, $i);
-			$i++;
-			push @ibxs, $ibx;
+		}
+		my $done = \'done';
+		eval {
+			$cfg->each_inbox(sub {
+				my ($ibx) = @_;
+				return if $ibx->version < $min_ver;
+				my $dir = $ibx->{inboxdir};
+				if (my @s = stat $dir) {
+					my $i = delete($s2i{"$s[0]\0$s[1]"})
+						// return;
+					$ibxs[$i] = $ibx;
+					die $done if !keys(%s2i);
+				} else {
+					warn "W: $ibx->{name} $dir: $!\n";
+				}
+			});
+		};
+		die $@ if $@ && $@ ne $done;
+		for my $i (sort { $a <=> $b } values %s2i) {
+			$ibxs[$i] = unconfigured_ibx($dirs[$i], $i);
 		}
+		@ibxs = grep { defined } @ibxs; # duplicates are undef
 	}
 	if (@old) {
 		die "-V$min_ver inboxes not supported by $0\n\t",
@@ -216,7 +241,7 @@ 		$pr->("indexing $ibx->{inboxdir} ...\n");
 	}
 	local %SIG = %SIG;
 	setup_signals(\&index_terminate, $ibx);
-	my $warn_cb = $SIG{__WARN__} // sub { print STDERR @_ };
+	my $warn_cb = $SIG{__WARN__} // \&CORE::warn;
 	my $idx = { current_info => $ibx->{inboxdir} };
 	my $warn_ignore = PublicInbox::InboxWritable->can('warn_ignore');
 	local $SIG{__WARN__} = sub {
@@ -246,6 +271,7 @@ 		require PublicInbox::SearchIdx;
 		$idx = PublicInbox::SearchIdx->new($ibx, 1);
 	}
 	$idx->index_sync($opt);
+	$idx->{nidx} // 0; # returns number processed
 }
 
 sub progress_prepare ($) {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Config.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Config.pm
index cafd9c3bafe364eaaeedcb478cc9e23fd1a49dfc..21f2161a287bd2743eadbf76b1cb379731f41948 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Config.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Config.pm
@@ -132,20 +132,16 @@ }
 
 sub config_fh_parse ($$$) {
 	my ($fh, $rs, $fs) = @_;
-	my %rv;
-	my (%section_seen, @section_order);
+	my (%rv, %seen, @section_order, $line, $k, $v, $section, $cur, $i);
 	local $/ = $rs;
-	while (defined(my $line = <$fh>)) {
-		chomp $line;
-		my ($k, $v) = split($fs, $line, 2);
-		my ($section) = ($k =~ /\A(\S+)\.[^\.]+\z/);
-		unless (defined $section_seen{$section}) {
-			$section_seen{$section} = 1;
-			push @section_order, $section;
-		}
+	while (defined($line = <$fh>)) { # perf critical with giant configs
+		$i = index($line, $fs);
+		$k = substr($line, 0, $i);
+		$v = substr($line, $i + 1, -1); # chop off $fs
+		$section = substr($k, 0, rindex($k, '.'));
+		$seen{$section} //= push(@section_order, $section);
 
-		my $cur = $rv{$k};
-		if (defined $cur) {
+		if (defined($cur = $rv{$k})) {
 			if (ref($cur) eq "ARRAY") {
 				push @$cur, $v;
 			} else {
@@ -163,11 +159,10 @@
 sub git_config_dump {
 	my ($file) = @_;
 	return {} unless -e $file;
-	my @cmd = (qw/git config -z -l --includes/, "--file=$file");
-	my $cmd = join(' ', @cmd);
-	my $fh = popen_rd(\@cmd);
+	my $cmd = [ qw(git config -z -l --includes), "--file=$file" ];
+	my $fh = popen_rd($cmd);
 	my $rv = config_fh_parse($fh, "\0", "\n");
-	close $fh or die "failed to close ($cmd) pipe: $?";
+	close $fh or die "failed to close (@$cmd) pipe: $?";
 	$rv;
 }
 
@@ -369,6 +364,16 @@ 		undef;
 	}
 }
 
+# abs_path resolves symlinks, so we want to avoid it if rel2abs
+# is sufficient and doesn't leave "/.." or "/../"
+sub rel2abs_collapsed {
+	require File::Spec;
+	my $p = File::Spec->rel2abs($_[-1]);
+	return $p if substr($p, -3, 3) ne '/..' && index($p, '/../') < 0;
+	require Cwd;
+	Cwd::abs_path($p);
+}
+
 sub _fill {
 	my ($self, $pfx) = @_;
 	my $ibx = {};
@@ -391,10 +396,10 @@ 			}
 		}
 	}
 
-	# backwards compatibility:
-	$ibx->{inboxdir} //= $self->{"$pfx.mainrepo"};
-	if (($ibx->{inboxdir} // '') =~ /\n/s) {
-		warn "E: `$ibx->{inboxdir}' must not contain `\\n'\n";
+	# "mainrepo" is backwards compatibility:
+	my $dir = $ibx->{inboxdir} //= $self->{"$pfx.mainrepo"} // return;
+	if (index($dir, "\n") >= 0) {
+		warn "E: `$dir' must not contain `\\n'\n";
 		return;
 	}
 	foreach my $k (qw(obfuscate)) {
@@ -415,10 +420,7 @@ 			$ibx->{$k} = _array($v);
 		}
 	}
 
-	return unless defined($ibx->{inboxdir});
-	my $name = $pfx;
-	$name =~ s/\Apublicinbox\.//;
-
+	my $name = substr($pfx, length('publicinbox.'));
 	if (!valid_inbox_name($name)) {
 		warn "invalid inbox name: '$name'\n";
 		return;
@@ -438,7 +440,7 @@ 		foreach my $list_id (@$listids) {
 			$self->{-by_list_id}->{lc($list_id)} = $ibx;
 		}
 	}
-	if (my $ngname = $ibx->{newsgroup}) {
+	if (defined(my $ngname = $ibx->{newsgroup})) {
 		if (ref($ngname)) {
 			delete $ibx->{newsgroup};
 			warn 'multiple newsgroups not supported: '.
@@ -447,13 +449,21 @@ 		# Newsgroup name needs to be compatible with RFC 3977
 		# wildmat-exact and RFC 3501 (IMAP) ATOM-CHAR.
 		# Leave out a few chars likely to cause problems or conflicts:
 		# '|', '<', '>', ';', '#', '$', '&',
-		} elsif ($ngname =~ m![^A-Za-z0-9/_\.\-\~\@\+\=:]!) {
+		} elsif ($ngname =~ m![^A-Za-z0-9/_\.\-\~\@\+\=:]! ||
+				$ngname eq '') {
 			delete $ibx->{newsgroup};
 			warn "newsgroup name invalid: `$ngname'\n";
 		} else {
 			# PublicInbox::NNTPD does stricter ->nntp_usable
 			# checks, keep this lean for startup speed
 			$self->{-by_newsgroup}->{$ngname} = $ibx;
+		}
+	}
+	unless (defined $ibx->{newsgroup}) { # for ->eidx_key
+		my $abs = rel2abs_collapsed($dir);
+		if ($abs ne $dir) {
+			warn "W: `$dir' canonicalized to `$abs'\n";
+			$ibx->{inboxdir} = $abs;
 		}
 	}
 	$self->{-by_name}->{$name} = $ibx;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/DS.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/DS.pm
index a02b3bb78641bd12254e718c3344a2bfef1801de..97a6f6efc721acdecfd4c0d3c447fa3f08f20f25 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/DS.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/DS.pm
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@
      $PostLoopCallback,          # subref to call at the end of each loop, if defined (global)
 
      $LoopTimeout,               # timeout of event loop in milliseconds
-     $DoneInit,                  # if we've done the one-time module init yet
      @Timers,                    # timers
      $in_loop,
      );
@@ -75,12 +74,9 @@     $LoopTimeout = -1;  # no timeout by default
     @Timers = ();
 
     $PostLoopCallback = undef;
-    $DoneInit = 0;
 
     $_io = undef; # closes real $Epoll FD
     $Epoll = undef; # may call DSKQXS::DESTROY
-
-    *EventLoop = *FirstTimeEventLoop;
 }
 
 =head2 C<< CLASS->SetLoopTimeout( $timeout ) >>
@@ -91,9 +87,7 @@ A timeout of 0 (zero) means poll forever. A timeout of -1 means poll and return
 immediately.
 
 =cut
-sub SetLoopTimeout {
-    return $LoopTimeout = $_[1] + 0;
-}
+sub SetLoopTimeout { $LoopTimeout = $_[1] + 0 }
 
 =head2 C<< PublicInbox::DS::add_timer( $seconds, $coderef, $arg) >>
 
@@ -137,14 +131,13 @@     defined(my $fl = fcntl($_io, F_GETFD, 0)) or return;
     fcntl($_io, F_SETFD, $fl | FD_CLOEXEC);
 }
 
+# caller sets return value to $Epoll
 sub _InitPoller
 {
-    return if $DoneInit;
-    $DoneInit = 1;
-
     if (PublicInbox::Syscall::epoll_defined())  {
-        $Epoll = epoll_create();
-        set_cloexec($Epoll) if (defined($Epoll) && $Epoll >= 0);
+        my $fd = epoll_create();
+        set_cloexec($fd) if (defined($fd) && $fd >= 0);
+	$fd;
     } else {
         my $cls;
         for (qw(DSKQXS DSPoll)) {
@@ -152,9 +145,8 @@             $cls = "PublicInbox::$_";
             last if eval "require $cls";
         }
         $cls->import(qw(epoll_ctl epoll_wait));
-        $Epoll = $cls->new;
+        $cls->new;
     }
-    *EventLoop = *EpollEventLoop;
 }
 
 =head2 C<< CLASS->EventLoop() >>
@@ -163,13 +155,6 @@ Start processing IO events. In most daemon programs this never exits. See
 C<PostLoopCallback> below for how to exit the loop.
 
 =cut
-sub FirstTimeEventLoop {
-    my $class = shift;
-
-    _InitPoller();
-
-    EventLoop($class);
-}
 
 sub now () { clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC) }
 
@@ -213,12 +198,7 @@     # of 0.0000212 seconds
     my $timeout = int(($Timers[0][0] - $now) * 1000) + 1;
 
     # -1 is an infinite timeout, so prefer a real timeout
-    return $timeout     if $LoopTimeout == -1;
-
-    # otherwise pick the lower of our regular timeout and time until
-    # the next timer
-    return $LoopTimeout if $LoopTimeout < $timeout;
-    return $timeout;
+    ($LoopTimeout < 0 || $LoopTimeout >= $timeout) ? $timeout : $LoopTimeout;
 }
 
 # We can't use waitpid(-1) safely here since it can hit ``, system(),
@@ -271,21 +251,21 @@ 	# by default we keep running, unless a postloop callback cancels it
 	$PostLoopCallback ? $PostLoopCallback->(\%DescriptorMap) : 1;
 }
 
-sub EpollEventLoop {
+sub EventLoop {
+    $Epoll //= _InitPoller();
     local $in_loop = 1;
+    my @events;
     do {
-        my @events;
-        my $i;
         my $timeout = RunTimers();
 
         # get up to 1000 events
-        my $evcount = epoll_wait($Epoll, 1000, $timeout, \@events);
-        for ($i=0; $i<$evcount; $i++) {
+        epoll_wait($Epoll, 1000, $timeout, \@events);
+        for my $fd (@events) {
             # it's possible epoll_wait returned many events, including some at the end
             # that ones in the front triggered unregister-interest actions.  if we
             # can't find the %sock entry, it's because we're no longer interested
             # in that event.
-            $DescriptorMap{$events[$i]->[0]}->event_step;
+            $DescriptorMap{$fd}->event_step;
         }
     } while (PostEventLoop());
     _run_later();
@@ -330,8 +310,7 @@     my ($self, $sock, $ev) = @_;
     $self->{sock} = $sock;
     my $fd = fileno($sock);
 
-    _InitPoller();
-
+    $Epoll //= _InitPoller();
 retry:
     if (epoll_ctl($Epoll, EPOLL_CTL_ADD, $fd, $ev)) {
         if ($! == EINVAL && ($ev & EPOLLEXCLUSIVE)) {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/DSKQXS.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/DSKQXS.pm
index d1d3fe60d4a771cdcbe648b95f4c89ad646af1c2..aa2c91680e7dd2b6ab3ba283e76472358fc86def 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/DSKQXS.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/DSKQXS.pm
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ 			die $err;
 		}
 	}
 	# caller only cares for $events[$i]->[0]
-	scalar(@$events);
+	$_ = $_->[0] for @$events;
 }
 
 # kqueue is close-on-fork (not exec), so we must not close it
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/DSPoll.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/DSPoll.pm
index 1d9b51d9f267b0570517b3eda0d7faa47d016ffb..a218f69563f04b944f046c514f4b9ce237c655b3 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/DSPoll.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/DSPoll.pm
@@ -45,14 +45,13 @@ 		for (my $i = 0; $i < @pset; ) {
 			my $fd = $pset[$i++];
 			my $revents = $pset[$i++] or next;
 			delete($self->{$fd}) if $self->{$fd} & EPOLLONESHOT;
-			push @$events, [ $fd ];
+			push @$events, $fd;
 		}
 		my $nevents = scalar @$events;
 		if ($n != $nevents) {
 			warn "BUG? poll() returned $n, but got $nevents";
 		}
 	}
-	$n;
 }
 
 1;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Daemon.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Daemon.pm
index 6b92b60dac8ee7e290279c7261717ccab440596f..bdf1dc45fd3381764c5886f81204349e6faab756 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Daemon.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Daemon.pm
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ use IO::Socket;
 use POSIX qw(WNOHANG :signal_h);
 use Socket qw(IPPROTO_TCP SOL_SOCKET);
 sub SO_ACCEPTFILTER () { 0x1000 }
-use Cwd qw/abs_path/;
 STDOUT->autoflush(1);
 STDERR->autoflush(1);
 use PublicInbox::DS qw(now);
@@ -204,10 +203,11 @@ }
 
 sub daemonize () {
 	if ($daemonize) {
+		require Cwd;
 		foreach my $i (0..$#ARGV) {
 			my $arg = $ARGV[$i];
 			next unless -e $arg;
-			$ARGV[$i] = abs_path($arg);
+			$ARGV[$i] = Cwd::abs_path($arg);
 		}
 		check_absolute('stdout', $stdout);
 		check_absolute('stderr', $stderr);
@@ -369,14 +369,12 @@ 	my @rv = ();
 	foreach my $fd (3..$end) {
 		my $s = IO::Handle->new_from_fd($fd, 'r');
 		if (my $k = sockname($s)) {
-			if ($s->blocking) {
-				$s->blocking(0);
-				warn <<"";
+			my $prev_was_blocking = $s->blocking(0);
+			warn <<"" if $prev_was_blocking;
 Inherited socket (fd=$fd) is blocking, making it non-blocking.
 Set 'NonBlocking = true' in the systemd.service unit to avoid stalled
 processes when multiple service instances start.
 
-			}
 			$listener_names->{$k} = $s;
 			push @rv, $s;
 		} else {
@@ -423,11 +421,8 @@ 	$reexec_pid = $pid;
 }
 
 sub kill_workers ($) {
-	my ($s) = @_;
-
-	while (my ($pid, $id) = each %pids) {
-		kill $s, $pid;
-	}
+	my ($sig) = @_;
+	kill $sig, keys(%pids);
 }
 
 sub upgrade_aborted ($) {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Eml.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Eml.pm
index 571edc5c950c7ccd575e6de91ce1326f446ab788..4d3fffc0387ae7653653dbae561ab03551789c29 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Eml.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Eml.pm
@@ -378,7 +378,9 @@ 	}
 	header_set($self, $name, @vals);
 }
 
-sub mhdr_decode ($) { eval { $MIME_Header->decode($_[0]) } // $_[0] }
+sub mhdr_decode ($) {
+	eval { $MIME_Header->decode($_[0], Encode::FB_DEFAULT) } // $_[0];
+}
 
 sub filename {
 	my $dis = header_raw($_[0], 'Content-Disposition');
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtMsg.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtMsg.pm
index 6a173f675444b48216ba143b5c44e4fec764420f..4df885ab737c81a4c3f393e38965e6bd108f13da 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtMsg.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtMsg.pm
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ sub search_partial ($$) {
 	my ($ibx, $mid) = @_;
 	return if length($mid) < $MIN_PARTIAL_LEN;
 	my $srch = $ibx->search or return; # NOT ->isrch, we already try ->ALL
-	my $opt = { limit => PARTIAL_MAX, mset => 2 };
+	my $opt = { limit => PARTIAL_MAX, relevance => -1 };
 	my @try = ("m:$mid*");
 	my $chop = $mid;
 	if ($chop =~ s/(\W+)(\w*)\z//) {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearch.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearch.pm
index 7ce950bc11a6cfa59f9b46ecec774c6fa425872d..2bcdece61e3a4e95090fcbb1aca81f69dedbd975 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearch.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearch.pm
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ use strict;
 use v5.10.1;
 use PublicInbox::Over;
 use PublicInbox::Inbox;
-use File::Spec ();
 use PublicInbox::MiscSearch;
 use DBI qw(:sql_types); # SQL_BLOB
 
@@ -18,7 +17,6 @@ use parent qw(PublicInbox::Search);
 
 sub new {
 	my ($class, $topdir) = @_;
-	$topdir = File::Spec->canonpath($topdir);
 	bless {
 		topdir => $topdir,
 		# xpfx => 'ei15'
@@ -30,8 +28,6 @@ sub misc {
 	my ($self) = @_;
 	$self->{misc} //= PublicInbox::MiscSearch->new("$self->{xpfx}/misc");
 }
-
-sub search { $_[0] } # self
 
 # same as per-inbox ->over, for now...
 sub over {
@@ -122,6 +118,6 @@ *modified = \&PublicInbox::Inbox::modified;
 *recent = \&PublicInbox::Inbox::recent;
 
 *max_git_epoch = *nntp_usable = *msg_by_path = \&mm; # undef
-*isrch = *search;
+*isrch = *search = \&PublicInbox::Search::reopen;
 
 1;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm
index 568960562812e56500ebaee9dc28a03447dd683c..a2d70205c9cdb2a7faac5b977ecd3246de9974e2 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm
@@ -30,13 +30,11 @@ use PublicInbox::V2Writable;
 use PublicInbox::InboxWritable;
 use PublicInbox::ContentHash qw(content_hash);
 use PublicInbox::Eml;
-use File::Spec;
 use PublicInbox::DS qw(now);
 use DBI qw(:sql_types); # SQL_BLOB
 
 sub new {
 	my (undef, $dir, $opt) = @_;
-	$dir = File::Spec->canonpath($dir);
 	my $l = $opt->{indexlevel} // 'full';
 	$l !~ $PublicInbox::SearchIdx::INDEXLEVELS and
 		die "invalid indexlevel=$l\n";
@@ -56,28 +54,14 @@ 		lock_path => "$dir/ei.lock",
 	}, __PACKAGE__;
 	$self->{shards} = $self->count_shards || nproc_shards($opt->{creat});
 	my $oidx = PublicInbox::OverIdx->new("$self->{xpfx}/over.sqlite3");
-	$oidx->{-no_fsync} = 1 if $opt->{-no_fsync};
+	$self->{-no_fsync} = $oidx->{-no_fsync} = 1 if !$opt->{fsync};
 	$self->{oidx} = $oidx;
 	$self
 }
 
 sub attach_inbox {
 	my ($self, $ibx) = @_;
-	my $key = $ibx->eidx_key;
-	if (!$ibx->over || !$ibx->mm) {
-		warn "W: skipping $key (unindexed)\n";
-		return;
-	}
-	if (!defined($ibx->uidvalidity)) {
-		warn "W: skipping $key (no UIDVALIDITY)\n";
-		return;
-	}
-	my $ibxdir = File::Spec->canonpath($ibx->{inboxdir});
-	if ($ibxdir ne $ibx->{inboxdir}) {
-		warn "W: `$ibx->{inboxdir}' canonicalized to `$ibxdir'\n";
-		$ibx->{inboxdir} = $ibxdir;
-	}
-	$self->{ibx_map}->{$key} //= do {
+	$self->{ibx_map}->{$ibx->eidx_key} //= do {
 		push @{$self->{ibx_list}}, $ibx;
 		$ibx;
 	}
@@ -281,29 +265,36 @@ 	}
 	$heads;
 }
 
+sub _ibx_index_reject ($) {
+	my ($ibx) = @_;
+	$ibx->mm // return 'unindexed, no msgmap.sqlite3';
+	$ibx->uidvalidity // return 'no UIDVALIDITY';
+	$ibx->over // return 'unindexed, no over.sqlite3';
+	undef;
+}
+
 sub _sync_inbox ($$$) {
 	my ($self, $sync, $ibx) = @_;
+	my $ekey = $ibx->eidx_key;
+	if (defined(my $err = _ibx_index_reject($ibx))) {
+		return "W: skipping $ekey ($err)";
+	}
 	$sync->{ibx} = $ibx;
 	$sync->{nr} = \(my $nr = 0);
 	my $v = $ibx->version;
-	my $ekey = $ibx->eidx_key;
 	if ($v == 2) {
 		$sync->{epoch_max} = $ibx->max_git_epoch // return;
 		sync_prepare($self, $sync); # or return # TODO: once MiscIdx is stable
 	} elsif ($v == 1) {
 		my $uv = $ibx->uidvalidity;
 		my $lc = $self->{oidx}->eidx_meta("lc-v1:$ekey//$uv");
-		my $head = $ibx->mm->last_commit;
-		unless (defined $head) {
-			warn "E: $ibx->{inboxdir} is not indexed\n";
-			return;
-		}
+		my $head = $ibx->mm->last_commit //
+			return "E: $ibx->{inboxdir} is not indexed";
 		my $stk = prepare_stack($sync, $lc ? "$lc..$head" : $head);
 		my $unit = { stack => $stk, git => $ibx->git };
 		push @{$sync->{todo}}, $unit;
 	} else {
-		warn "E: $ekey unsupported inbox version (v$v)\n";
-		return;
+		return "E: $ekey unsupported inbox version (v$v)";
 	}
 	for my $unit (@{delete($sync->{todo}) // []}) {
 		last if $sync->{quit};
@@ -311,6 +302,7 @@ 		index_todo($self, $sync, $unit);
 	}
 	$self->{midx}->index_ibx($ibx) unless $sync->{quit};
 	$ibx->git->cleanup; # done with this inbox, now
+	undef;
 }
 
 sub gc_unref_doc ($$$$) {
@@ -401,6 +393,32 @@ 	my $pos = $sync->{id2pos}->{$ibx_id} // die "$ibx_id no pos";
 	$self->{ibx_list}->[$pos] // die "BUG: ibx for $smsg->{blob} not mapped"
 }
 
+sub _fd_constrained ($) {
+	my ($self) = @_;
+	$self->{-fd_constrained} //= do {
+		my $soft;
+		if (eval { require BSD::Resource; 1 }) {
+			my $NOFILE = BSD::Resource::RLIMIT_NOFILE();
+			($soft, undef) = BSD::Resource::getrlimit($NOFILE);
+		} else {
+			chomp($soft = `sh -c 'ulimit -n'`);
+		}
+		if (defined($soft)) {
+			my $want = scalar(@{$self->{ibx_list}}) + 64; # estimate
+			my $ret = $want > $soft;
+			if ($ret) {
+				warn <<EOF;
+RLIMIT_NOFILE=$soft insufficient (want: $want), will close DB handles early
+EOF
+			}
+			$ret;
+		} else {
+			warn "Unable to determine RLIMIT_NOFILE: $@\n";
+			1;
+		}
+	};
+}
+
 sub _reindex_finalize ($$$) {
 	my ($req, $smsg, $eml) = @_;
 	my $sync = $req->{sync};
@@ -437,11 +455,16 @@ 		}
 		my $x = pop(@$ary) // die "BUG: #$docid {by_chash} empty";
 		$x->{num} = delete($x->{xnum}) // die '{xnum} unset';
 		$ibx = _ibx_for($self, $sync, $x);
-		my $e = $ibx->over->get_art($x->{num});
-		$e->{blob} eq $x->{blob} or die <<EOF;
+		if (my $over = $ibx->over) {
+			my $e = $over->get_art($x->{num});
+			$e->{blob} eq $x->{blob} or die <<EOF;
 $x->{blob} != $e->{blob} (${\$ibx->eidx_key}:$e->{num});
 EOF
-		push @todo, $ibx, $e;
+			push @todo, $ibx, $e;
+			$over->dbh_close if _fd_constrained($self);
+		} else {
+			die "$ibx->{inboxdir}: over.sqlite3 unusable: $!\n";
+		}
 	}
 	undef $by_chash;
 	while (my ($ibx, $e) = splice(@todo, 0, 2)) {
@@ -607,7 +630,7 @@ 	return unless eidxq_lock_acquire($self);
 	my $dbh = $self->{oidx}->dbh;
 	my $tot = $dbh->selectrow_array('SELECT COUNT(*) FROM eidxq') or return;
 	${$sync->{nr}} = 0;
-	$sync->{-regen_fmt} = "%u/$tot\n";
+	local $sync->{-regen_fmt} = "%u/$tot\n";
 	my $pr = $sync->{-opt}->{-progress};
 	if ($pr) {
 		my $min = $dbh->selectrow_array('SELECT MIN(docid) FROM eidxq');
@@ -686,7 +709,8 @@ 	# first, check if we missed any messages in target $ibx
 	my $msgs;
 	my $pr = $sync->{-opt}->{-progress};
 	my $ekey = $ibx->eidx_key;
-	$sync->{-regen_fmt} = "$ekey checking unseen %u/".$ibx->over->max."\n";
+	local $sync->{-regen_fmt} =
+			"$ekey checking unseen %u/".$ibx->over->max."\n";
 	${$sync->{nr}} = 0;
 
 	while (scalar(@{$msgs = $ibx->over->query_xover($beg, $end)})) {
@@ -729,7 +753,7 @@ 	my $min = 0;
 	my $pr = $sync->{-opt}->{-progress};
 	my $fetching;
 	my $ekey = $ibx->eidx_key;
-	$sync->{-regen_fmt} =
+	local $sync->{-regen_fmt} =
 			"$ekey check stale/missing %u/".$ibx->over->max."\n";
 	${$sync->{nr}} = 0;
 	do {
@@ -787,9 +811,14 @@ }
 
 sub _reindex_inbox ($$$) {
 	my ($self, $sync, $ibx) = @_;
-	local $self->{current_info} = $ibx->eidx_key;
-	_reindex_check_unseen($self, $sync, $ibx);
-	_reindex_check_stale($self, $sync, $ibx) unless $sync->{quit};
+	my $ekey = $ibx->eidx_key;
+	local $self->{current_info} = $ekey;
+	if (defined(my $err = _ibx_index_reject($ibx))) {
+		warn "W: cannot reindex $ekey ($err)\n";
+	} else {
+		_reindex_check_unseen($self, $sync, $ibx);
+		_reindex_check_stale($self, $sync, $ibx) unless $sync->{quit};
+	}
 	delete @$ibx{qw(over mm search git)}; # won't need these for a bit
 }
 
@@ -810,10 +839,17 @@ 	$self->git->async_wait_all; # ensure eidxq gets filled completely
 	eidxq_process($self, $sync) unless $sync->{quit};
 }
 
+sub sync_inbox {
+	my ($self, $sync, $ibx) = @_;
+	my $err = _sync_inbox($self, $sync, $ibx);
+	delete @$ibx{qw(mm over)};
+	warn $err, "\n" if defined($err);
+}
+
 sub eidx_sync { # main entry point
 	my ($self, $opt) = @_;
 
-	my $warn_cb = $SIG{__WARN__} || sub { print STDERR @_ };
+	my $warn_cb = $SIG{__WARN__} || \&CORE::warn;
 	local $self->{current_info} = '';
 	local $SIG{__WARN__} = sub {
 		$warn_cb->($self->{current_info}, ': ', @_);
@@ -840,20 +876,23 @@ 	for my $ibx (@{$self->{ibx_list}}) {
 		$ibx->{-ibx_id} //= $self->{oidx}->ibx_id($ibx->eidx_key);
 	}
 	if (delete($opt->{reindex})) {
-		$sync->{checkpoint_unlocks} = 1;
+		local $sync->{checkpoint_unlocks} = 1;
 		eidx_reindex($self, $sync);
 	}
 
 	# don't use $_ here, it'll get clobbered by reindex_checkpoint
-	for my $ibx (@{$self->{ibx_list}}) {
-		last if $sync->{quit};
-		_sync_inbox($self, $sync, $ibx);
+	if ($opt->{scan} // 1) {
+		for my $ibx (@{$self->{ibx_list}}) {
+			last if $sync->{quit};
+			sync_inbox($self, $sync, $ibx);
+		}
 	}
 	$self->{oidx}->rethread_done($opt) unless $sync->{quit};
 	eidxq_process($self, $sync) unless $sync->{quit};
 
 	eidxq_release($self);
-	PublicInbox::V2Writable::done($self);
+	done($self);
+	$sync; # for eidx_watch
 }
 
 sub update_last_commit { # overrides V2Writable
@@ -963,16 +1002,125 @@ 		my $o = \@old;
 		PublicInbox::V2Writable::write_alternates($info_dir, $mode, $o);
 	}
 	$self->parallel_init($self->{indexlevel});
-	$self->umask_prepare;
 	$self->with_umask(\&_idx_init, $self, $opt);
 	$self->{oidx}->begin_lazy;
 	$self->{oidx}->eidx_prep;
 	$self->{midx}->begin_txn;
 }
 
+sub _watch_commit { # PublicInbox::DS::add_timer callback
+	my ($self) = @_;
+	delete $self->{-commit_timer};
+	eidxq_process($self, $self->{-watch_sync});
+	eidxq_release($self);
+	delete local $self->{-watch_sync}->{-regen_fmt};
+	reindex_checkpoint($self, $self->{-watch_sync});
+
+	# call event_step => done unless commit_timer is armed
+	PublicInbox::DS::requeue($self);
+}
+
+sub on_inbox_unlock { # called by PublicInbox::InboxIdle
+	my ($self, $ibx) = @_;
+	my $opt = $self->{-watch_sync}->{-opt};
+	my $pr = $opt->{-progress};
+	my $ekey = $ibx->eidx_key;
+	local $0 = "sync $ekey";
+	$pr->("indexing $ekey\n") if $pr;
+	$self->idx_init($opt);
+	sync_inbox($self, $self->{-watch_sync}, $ibx);
+	$self->{-commit_timer} //= PublicInbox::DS::add_timer(
+					$opt->{'commit-interval'} // 10,
+					\&_watch_commit, $self);
+}
+
+sub eidx_reload { # -extindex --watch SIGHUP handler
+	my ($self, $idler) = @_;
+	if ($self->{cfg}) {
+		my $pr = $self->{-watch_sync}->{-opt}->{-progress};
+		$pr->('reloading ...') if $pr;
+		delete $self->{-resync_queue};
+		@{$self->{ibx_list}} = ();
+		%{$self->{ibx_map}} = ();
+		delete $self->{-watch_sync}->{id2pos};
+		my $cfg = PublicInbox::Config->new;
+		attach_config($self, $cfg);
+		$idler->refresh($cfg);
+		$pr->(" done\n") if $pr;
+	} else {
+		warn "reload not supported without --all\n";
+	}
+}
+
+sub eidx_resync_start ($) { # -extindex --watch SIGUSR1 handler
+	my ($self) = @_;
+	$self->{-resync_queue} //= [ @{$self->{ibx_list}} ];
+	PublicInbox::DS::requeue($self); # trigger our ->event_step
+}
+
+sub event_step { # PublicInbox::DS::requeue callback
+	my ($self) = @_;
+	if (my $resync_queue = $self->{-resync_queue}) {
+		if (my $ibx = shift(@$resync_queue)) {
+			on_inbox_unlock($self, $ibx);
+			PublicInbox::DS::requeue($self);
+		} else {
+			delete $self->{-resync_queue};
+			_watch_commit($self);
+		}
+	} else {
+		done($self) unless $self->{-commit_timer};
+	}
+}
+
+sub eidx_watch { # public-inbox-extindex --watch main loop
+	my ($self, $opt) = @_;
+	local %SIG = %SIG;
+	for my $sig (qw(HUP USR1 TSTP QUIT INT TERM)) {
+		$SIG{$sig} = sub { warn "SIG$sig ignored while scanning\n" };
+	}
+	require PublicInbox::InboxIdle;
+	require PublicInbox::DS;
+	require PublicInbox::Syscall;
+	require PublicInbox::Sigfd;
+	my $idler = PublicInbox::InboxIdle->new($self->{cfg});
+	if (!$self->{cfg}) {
+		$idler->watch_inbox($_) for @{$self->{ibx_list}};
+	}
+	$_->subscribe_unlock(__PACKAGE__, $self) for @{$self->{ibx_list}};
+	my $pr = $opt->{-progress};
+	$pr->("performing initial scan ...\n") if $pr;
+	my $sync = eidx_sync($self, $opt); # initial sync
+	return if $sync->{quit};
+	my $oldset = PublicInbox::Sigfd::block_signals();
+	local $self->{current_info} = '';
+	my $cb = $SIG{__WARN__} || \&CORE::warn;
+	local $SIG{__WARN__} = sub { $cb->($self->{current_info}, ': ', @_) };
+	my $sig = {
+		HUP => sub { eidx_reload($self, $idler) },
+		USR1 => sub { eidx_resync_start($self) },
+		TSTP => sub { kill('STOP', $$) },
+	};
+	my $quit = PublicInbox::SearchIdx::quit_cb($sync);
+	$sig->{QUIT} = $sig->{INT} = $sig->{TERM} = $quit;
+	my $sigfd = PublicInbox::Sigfd->new($sig,
+					$PublicInbox::Syscall::SFD_NONBLOCK);
+	%SIG = (%SIG, %$sig) if !$sigfd;
+	local $self->{-watch_sync} = $sync; # for ->on_inbox_unlock
+	if (!$sigfd) {
+		# wake up every second to accept signals if we don't
+		# have signalfd or IO::KQueue:
+		PublicInbox::Sigfd::sig_setmask($oldset);
+		PublicInbox::DS->SetLoopTimeout(1000);
+	}
+	PublicInbox::DS->SetPostLoopCallback(sub { !$sync->{quit} });
+	$pr->("initial scan complete, entering event loop\n") if $pr;
+	PublicInbox::DS->EventLoop; # calls InboxIdle->event_step
+	done($self);
+}
+
 no warnings 'once';
 *done = \&PublicInbox::V2Writable::done;
-*umask_prepare = \&PublicInbox::InboxWritable::umask_prepare;
 *with_umask = \&PublicInbox::InboxWritable::with_umask;
 *parallel_init = \&PublicInbox::V2Writable::parallel_init;
 *nproc_shards = \&PublicInbox::V2Writable::nproc_shards;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Gcf2.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Gcf2.pm
index 041dffe7d9c7b26396ab0a97f7b7deaf008c6896..fe6afef26e5959dd08f43cdef5e25466a56af539 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Gcf2.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Gcf2.pm
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ 		my $f = "$dir/gcf2_$x.h";
 		if (open(my $fh, '<', $f)) {
 			chomp($l, $c);
 			local $/;
-			$c_src = <$fh>;
+			defined($c_src = <$fh>) or die "read $f: $!\n";
 			$CFG{LIBS} = $l;
 			$CFG{CCFLAGSEX} = $c;
 			last;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
index 084069259110d26e8b043822c0c22ecc4a8a81d7..73dc7d3e5d99feae413f92226cde9e4d77b29b3b 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
@@ -362,10 +362,8 @@
 sub qx {
 	my ($self, @cmd) = @_;
 	my $fh = $self->popen(@cmd);
-	local $/ = "\n";
-	return <$fh> if wantarray;
-	local $/;
-	<$fh>
+	local $/ = wantarray ? "\n" : undef;
+	<$fh>;
 }
 
 # check_async and cat_async may trigger the other, so ensure they're
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/IMAP.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/IMAP.pm
index a3a10bde411d58605e2a3f68837c2fa677c40160..2af5ab0c530fc28b382db4d5f2dbaded26d245e9 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/IMAP.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/IMAP.pm
@@ -1136,7 +1136,7 @@ 	} elsif ($q = $q->{xap}) {
 		my $srch = $self->{ibx}->isrch or
 			return "$tag BAD search not available for mailbox\r\n";
 		my $opt = {
-			mset => 2,
+			relevance => -1,
 			limit => UID_SLICE,
 			uid_range => $range_info
 		};
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm
index b7be4c46aab27859e101cb95c1cb4a9d3ac4cbcc..079afc5f7861320a7bd44e3cb8577b4c86a53456 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ 	my ($self) = @_;
 
 	return ($self->{in}, $self->{out}) if $self->{pid};
 
-	my (@ret, $out_r, $out_w);
+	my ($in_r, $pid, $out_r, $out_w);
 	pipe($out_r, $out_w) or die "pipe failed: $!";
 
 	$self->lock_acquire;
@@ -56,27 +56,28 @@ 	eval {
 		my ($git, $ref) = @$self{qw(git ref)};
 		local $/ = "\n";
 		chomp($self->{tip} = $git->qx(qw(rev-parse --revs-only), $ref));
+		die "fatal: rev-parse --revs-only $ref: \$?=$?" if $?;
 		if ($self->{path_type} ne '2/38' && $self->{tip}) {
 			local $/ = "\0";
 			my @t = $git->qx(qw(ls-tree -r -z --name-only), $ref);
+			die "fatal: ls-tree -r -z --name-only $ref: \$?=$?" if $?;
 			chomp @t;
 			$self->{-tree} = { map { $_ => 1 } @t };
 		}
 		my @cmd = ('git', "--git-dir=$git->{git_dir}",
 			qw(fast-import --quiet --done --date-format=raw));
-		my ($in_r, $pid) = popen_rd(\@cmd, undef, { 0 => $out_r });
+		($in_r, $pid) = popen_rd(\@cmd, undef, { 0 => $out_r });
 		$out_w->autoflush(1);
 		$self->{in} = $in_r;
 		$self->{out} = $out_w;
 		$self->{pid} = $pid;
 		$self->{nchg} = 0;
-		@ret = ($in_r, $out_w);
 	};
 	if ($@) {
 		$self->lock_release;
 		die $@;
 	}
-	@ret;
+	($in_r, $out_w);
 }
 
 sub wfail () { die "write to fast-import failed: $!" }
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
index 8a3a01940a008473bebab3d307608f1d432762f8..af6380a758b187127b7240bb6f422e75dca283b5 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
@@ -109,10 +109,6 @@ 	} else {
 		delete $opts->{feedmax};
 	}
 	$opts->{nntpserver} ||= $pi_cfg->{'publicinbox.nntpserver'};
-	my $dir = $opts->{inboxdir};
-	if (defined $dir && -f "$dir/inbox.lock") {
-		$opts->{version} = 2;
-	}
 
 	# allow any combination of multi-line or comma-delimited hide entries
 	my $hide = {};
@@ -125,7 +121,9 @@ 	}
 	bless $opts, $class;
 }
 
-sub version { $_[0]->{version} // 1 }
+sub version {
+	$_[0]->{version} //= -f "$_[0]->{inboxdir}/inbox.lock" ? 2 : 1
+}
 
 sub git_epoch {
 	my ($self, $epoch) = @_; # v2-only, callers always supply $epoch
@@ -134,7 +132,7 @@ 		my $git_dir = "$self->{inboxdir}/git/$epoch.git";
 		return unless -d $git_dir;
 		my $g = PublicInbox::Git->new($git_dir);
 		$g->{-httpbackend_limiter} = $self->{-httpbackend_limiter};
-		# no cleanup needed, we never cat-file off this, only clone
+		# caller must manually cleanup when done
 		$g;
 	};
 }
@@ -212,12 +210,9 @@
 
 sub try_cat {
 	my ($path) = @_;
-	my $rv = '';
-	if (open(my $fh, '<', $path)) {
-		local $/;
-		$rv = <$fh>;
-	}
-	$rv;
+	open(my $fh, '<', $path) or return '';
+	local $/;
+	<$fh> // '';
 }
 
 sub cat_desc ($) {
@@ -416,8 +411,8 @@ sub on_unlock {
 	my ($self) = @_;
 	check_inodes($self);
 	my $subs = $self->{unlock_subs} or return;
-	for (values %$subs) {
-		eval { $_->on_inbox_unlock($self) };
+	for my $obj (values %$subs) {
+		eval { $obj->on_inbox_unlock($self) };
 		warn "E: $@ ($self->{inboxdir})\n" if $@;
 	}
 }
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/InboxIdle.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/InboxIdle.pm
index 2737bbbd01fbde2583de42f97f3383098a428999..35aed696daff61454ba5f6370020b848b6b8fb70 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/InboxIdle.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/InboxIdle.pm
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ # pathmap => { inboxdir => [ ibx, watch1, watch2, watch3... ] } mapping
 package PublicInbox::InboxIdle;
 use strict;
 use parent qw(PublicInbox::DS);
-use Cwd qw(abs_path);
 use PublicInbox::Syscall qw(EPOLLIN EPOLLET);
 my $IN_MODIFY = 0x02; # match Linux inotify
 my $ino_cls;
@@ -22,28 +21,38 @@ require PublicInbox::In2Tie if $ino_cls;
 
 sub in2_arm ($$) { # PublicInbox::Config::each_inbox callback
 	my ($ibx, $self) = @_;
-	my $dir = abs_path($ibx->{inboxdir});
-	if (!defined($dir)) {
-		warn "W: $ibx->{inboxdir} not watched: $!\n";
-		return;
-	}
+	my $dir = $ibx->{inboxdir};
 	my $inot = $self->{inot};
 	my $cur = $self->{pathmap}->{$dir} //= [];
+	my $lock = "$dir/".($ibx->version >= 2 ? 'inbox.lock' : 'ssoma.lock');
 
 	# transfer old subscriptions to the current inbox, cancel the old watch
-	if (my $old_ibx = $cur->[0]) {
+	my $old_ibx = $cur->[0];
+	$cur->[0] = $ibx;
+	if ($old_ibx) {
 		$ibx->{unlock_subs} and
 			die "BUG: $dir->{unlock_subs} should not exist";
 		$ibx->{unlock_subs} = $old_ibx->{unlock_subs};
+
+		# Linux::Inotify2::Watch::name matches if watches are the
+		# same, no point in replacing a watch of the same name
+		if ($cur->[1]->name eq $lock) {
+			$self->{on_unlock}->{$lock} = $ibx;
+			return;
+		}
+		# rare, name changed (v1 inbox converted to v2)
 		$cur->[1]->cancel; # Linux::Inotify2::Watch::cancel
 	}
-	$cur->[0] = $ibx;
 
-	my $lock = "$dir/".($ibx->version >= 2 ? 'inbox.lock' : 'ssoma.lock');
 	if (my $w = $cur->[1] = $inot->watch($lock, $IN_MODIFY)) {
 		$self->{on_unlock}->{$w->name} = $ibx;
 	} else {
 		warn "E: ".ref($inot)."->watch($lock, IN_MODIFY) failed: $!\n";
+		if ($!{ENOSPC} && $^O eq 'linux') {
+			warn <<"";
+I: consider increasing /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches
+
+		}
 	}
 
 	# TODO: detect deleted packs (and possibly other files)
@@ -54,6 +63,9 @@ 	my ($self, $pi_cfg) = @_;
 	$pi_cfg->each_inbox(\&in2_arm, $self);
 }
 
+# internal API for ease-of-use
+sub watch_inbox { in2_arm($_[1], $_[0]) };
+
 sub new {
 	my ($class, $pi_cfg) = @_;
 	my $self = bless {}, $class;
@@ -69,7 +81,7 @@ 	}
 	$self->{inot} = $inot;
 	$self->{pathmap} = {}; # inboxdir => [ ibx, watch1, watch2, watch3...]
 	$self->{on_unlock} = {}; # lock path => ibx
-	refresh($self, $pi_cfg);
+	refresh($self, $pi_cfg) if $pi_cfg;
 	PublicInbox::FakeInotify::poll_once($self) if !$ino_cls;
 	$self;
 }
@@ -80,7 +92,8 @@ 	eval {
 		my @events = $self->{inot}->read; # Linux::Inotify2::read
 		my $on_unlock = $self->{on_unlock};
 		for my $ev (@events) {
-			if (my $ibx = $on_unlock->{$ev->fullname}) {
+			my $fn = $ev->fullname // next; # cancelled
+			if (my $ibx = $on_unlock->{$fn}) {
 				$ibx->on_unlock;
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/InboxWritable.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/InboxWritable.pm
index c0e88f3d52ad1e21b6ec5a470ceff423af0fca5b..b1d5caf53c73f092731b29994cbdd8ece953a5fc 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/InboxWritable.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/InboxWritable.pm
@@ -46,12 +46,13 @@ 		require PublicInbox::SearchIdx;
 		require PublicInbox::Msgmap;
 		my $sidx = PublicInbox::SearchIdx->new($self, 1); # just create
 		$sidx->begin_txn_lazy;
+		my $mm = PublicInbox::Msgmap->new($self->{inboxdir}, 1);
 		if (defined $skip_artnum) {
-			my $mm = PublicInbox::Msgmap->new($self->{inboxdir}, 1);
 			$mm->{dbh}->begin_work;
 			$mm->skip_artnum($skip_artnum);
 			$mm->{dbh}->commit;
 		}
+		undef $mm; # ->created_at set
 		$sidx->commit_txn_lazy;
 	} else {
 		open my $fh, '>>', "$self->{inboxdir}/ssoma.lock" or
@@ -64,7 +65,6 @@ 	my ($self, $shards, $skip_epoch, $skip_artnum) = @_;
 	if ($self->version == 1) {
 		my $dir = assert_usable_dir($self);
 		PublicInbox::Import::init_bare($dir);
-		$self->umask_prepare;
 		$self->with_umask(\&_init_v1, $self, $skip_artnum);
 	} else {
 		my $v2w = importer($self);
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ }
 
 sub with_umask {
 	my ($self, $cb, @arg) = @_;
-	my $old = umask $self->{umask};
+	my $old = umask($self->{umask} //= umask_prepare($self));
 	my $rv = eval { $cb->(@arg) };
 	my $err = $@;
 	umask $old;
@@ -270,8 +270,7 @@
 sub umask_prepare {
 	my ($self) = @_;
 	my $perm = _git_config_perm($self);
-	my $umask = _umask_for($perm);
-	$self->{umask} = $umask;
+	_umask_for($perm);
 }
 
 sub cleanup ($) {
@@ -293,7 +292,7 @@ }
 
 # this expects to be RHS in this assignment: "local $SIG{__WARN__} = ..."
 sub warn_ignore_cb {
-	my $cb = $SIG{__WARN__} // sub { print STDERR @_ };
+	my $cb = $SIG{__WARN__} // \&CORE::warn;
 	sub {
 		return if warn_ignore(@_);
 		$cb->(@_);
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Isearch.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Isearch.pm
index 8a1f257ae1062b67bbb4dadd9eacfc91024d8d2f..7ca2f9e414eac3e63a60e8ef8bdf03a54ef5ccd9 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Isearch.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Isearch.pm
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ 	my ($self, $mset, $opt) = @_;
 	my $docids = PublicInbox::Search::mset_to_artnums($self->{es}, $mset);
 	my $ibx_id = $self->{-ibx_id} //= _ibx_id($self);
 	my $qmarks = join(',', map { '?' } @$docids);
-	if ($opt && ($opt->{mset} // 0) == 2) { # opt->{mset} = 2 was used
+	if ($opt && ($opt->{relevance} // 0) == -1) { # -1 => ENQ_ASCENDING
 		my $range = '';
 		my @r;
 		if (my $r = $opt->{uid_range}) {
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ 		$xnums[$idx] = $row->[1];
 	}
 	if (scalar keys %order) {
 		warn "W: $self->{es}->{topdir} #",
-			join(', #', sort keys %order),
+			join(', ', sort { $a <=> $b } keys %order),
 			" not mapped to `$self->{eidx_key}'\n";
 		warn "W: $self->{es}->{topdir} may need to be reindexed\n";
 		@xnums = grep { defined } @xnums;
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ 		$msgs[$idx] = $smsg;
 	}
 	if (scalar keys %order) {
 		warn "W: $ibx->{inboxdir} #",
-			join(', #', sort keys %order),
+			join(', ', sort { $a <=> $b } keys %order),
 			" no longer valid\n";
 		warn "W: $self->{es}->{topdir} may need to be reindexed\n";
 	}
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/ManifestJsGz.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/ManifestJsGz.pm
index 33df020a853ee0f161741b8c8ece4093a30636c7..37ee63d041929782a3d407d74027251e3a5b0cbb 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/ManifestJsGz.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/ManifestJsGz.pm
@@ -99,4 +99,11 @@ 		 'Last-Modified', time2str($ctx->{-mtime}),
 		 'Content-Length', bytes::length($out) ], [ $out ] ]
 }
 
+sub per_inbox {
+	my ($ctx) = @_;
+	# only one inbox, slow is probably OK
+	slow_manifest_add($ctx, $ctx->{ibx});
+	psgi_triple($ctx);
+}
+
 1;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
index c8e4b406229e0e1e1abd96405ebf229d75d58982..83fa7d8a2ffb4acabca3e3405743aceb51982889 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ 		return PublicInbox::WWW::need($ctx, 'Search');
 	my $over = $ctx->{ibx}->over or
 		return PublicInbox::WWW::need($ctx, 'Overview');
 
-	my $qopts = $ctx->{qopts} = { mset => 2 }; # order by docid
+	my $qopts = $ctx->{qopts} = { relevance => -1 }; # ORDER BY docid ASC
 	$qopts->{thread} = 1 if $q->{t};
 	my $mset = $srch->mset($q_string, $qopts);
 	$qopts->{offset} = $mset->size or
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/MiscIdx.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/MiscIdx.pm
index 64591d0516ddcfef135ee77c697f61b85012f583..a04dd1c532168fcf13627a17abfa2fae75b8ecb5 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/MiscIdx.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/MiscIdx.pm
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ use Carp qw(croak);
 use File::Path ();
 use PublicInbox::MiscSearch;
 use PublicInbox::Config;
+my $json;
 
 sub new {
 	my ($class, $eidx) = @_;
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ 	File::Path::mkpath($mi_dir);
 	nodatacow_dir($mi_dir);
 	my $flags = $PublicInbox::SearchIdx::DB_CREATE_OR_OPEN;
 	$flags |= $PublicInbox::SearchIdx::DB_NO_SYNC if $eidx->{-no_fsync};
+	$json //= PublicInbox::Config::json();
 	bless {
 		mi_dir => $mi_dir,
 		flags => $flags,
@@ -91,17 +93,27 @@ 	}
 	$xdb->delete_document($_) for @drop; # just in case
 
 	my $doc = $PublicInbox::Search::X{Document}->new;
+	term_generator($self)->set_document($doc);
 
-	# allow sorting by modified
+	# allow sorting by modified and uidvalidity (created at)
 	add_val($doc, $PublicInbox::MiscSearch::MODIFIED, $ibx->modified);
+	add_val($doc, $PublicInbox::MiscSearch::UIDVALIDITY, $ibx->uidvalidity);
 
-	$doc->add_boolean_term('Q'.$eidx_key);
-	$doc->add_boolean_term('T'.'inbox');
-	term_generator($self)->set_document($doc);
+	$doc->add_boolean_term('Q'.$eidx_key); # uniQue id
+	$doc->add_boolean_term('T'.'inbox'); # Type
+
+	if (defined($ibx->{newsgroup}) && $ibx->nntp_usable) {
+		$doc->add_boolean_term('T'.'newsgroup'); # additional Type
+	}
+
+	# force reread from disk, {description} could be loaded from {misc}
+	delete $ibx->{description};
+	my $desc = $ibx->description;
 
 	# description = S/Subject (or title)
 	# address = A/Author
-	index_text($self, $ibx->description, 1, 'S');
+	index_text($self, $desc, 1, 'S');
+	index_text($self, $ibx->{name}, 1, 'XNAME');
 	my %map = (
 		address => 'A',
 		listid => 'XLISTID',
@@ -113,10 +125,8 @@ 		for my $v (@{$ibx->{$f} // []}) {
 			index_text($self, $v, 1, $pfx);
 		}
 	}
-	index_text($self, $ibx->{name}, 1, 'XNAME');
 	my $data = {};
 	if (defined(my $max = $ibx->max_git_epoch)) { # v2
-		my $desc = $ibx->description;
 		my $pfx = "/$ibx->{name}/git/";
 		for my $epoch (0..$max) {
 			my $git = $ibx->git_epoch($epoch) or return;
@@ -130,7 +140,7 @@ 	} elsif (my $ent = $ibx->git->manifest_entry) { # v1
 		$ent->{git_dir} = $ibx->{inboxdir};
 		$data->{"/$ibx->{name}"} = $ent;
 	}
-	$doc->set_data(PublicInbox::Config::json()->encode($data));
+	$doc->set_data($json->encode($data));
 	if (defined $docid) {
 		$xdb->replace_document($docid, $doc);
 	} else {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/MiscSearch.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/MiscSearch.pm
index f2e3144303d39fdc02c1cfbed172529ed955078b..6683d5644379129fdb976fa56c187a247c99c2f8 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/MiscSearch.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/MiscSearch.pm
@@ -5,10 +5,12 @@ # read-only counterpart to MiscIdx
 package PublicInbox::MiscSearch;
 use strict;
 use v5.10.1;
-use PublicInbox::Search qw(retry_reopen);
+use PublicInbox::Search qw(retry_reopen int_val);
+my $json;
 
 # Xapian value columns:
 our $MODIFIED = 0;
+our $UIDVALIDITY = 1; # (created time)
 
 # avoid conflicting with message Search::prob_prefix for UI/UX reasons
 my %PROB_PREFIX = (
@@ -23,6 +25,8 @@ );
 
 sub new {
 	my ($class, $dir) = @_;
+	PublicInbox::Search::load_xapian();
+	$json //= PublicInbox::Config::json();
 	bless {
 		xdb => $PublicInbox::Search::X{Database}->new($dir)
 	}, $class;
@@ -69,6 +73,7 @@
 sub mset {
 	my ($self, $qs, $opt) = @_;
 	$opt ||= {};
+	reopen($self);
 	my $qp = $self->{qp} //= mi_qp_new($self);
 	$qs = 'type:inbox' if $qs eq '';
 	my $qr = $qp->parse_query($qs, $PublicInbox::Search::QP_FLAGS);
@@ -119,11 +124,13 @@
 sub ibx_data_once {
 	my ($self, $ibx) = @_;
 	my $xdb = $self->{xdb};
-	my $eidx_key = $ibx->eidx_key; # may be {inboxdir}, so private
-	my $head = $xdb->postlist_begin('Q'.$eidx_key);
-	my $tail = $xdb->postlist_end('Q'.$eidx_key);
+	my $term = 'Q'.$ibx->eidx_key; # may be {inboxdir}, so private
+	my $head = $xdb->postlist_begin($term);
+	my $tail = $xdb->postlist_end($term);
 	if ($head != $tail) {
 		my $doc = $xdb->get_document($head->get_docid);
+		$ibx->{uidvalidity} //= int_val($doc, $UIDVALIDITY);
+		$ibx->{-modified} = int_val($doc, $MODIFIED);
 		$doc->get_data;
 	} else {
 		undef;
@@ -134,5 +141,51 @@ sub inbox_data {
 	my ($self, $ibx) = @_;
 	retry_reopen($self, \&ibx_data_once, $ibx);
 }
+
+sub ibx_cache_load {
+	my ($doc, $cache) = @_;
+	my $end = $doc->termlist_end;
+	my $cur = $doc->termlist_begin;
+	$cur->skip_to('Q');
+	return if $cur == $end;
+	my $eidx_key = $cur->get_termname;
+	$eidx_key =~ s/\AQ// or return; # expired
+	my $ce = $cache->{$eidx_key} = {};
+	$ce->{uidvalidity} = int_val($doc, $UIDVALIDITY);
+	$ce->{-modified} = int_val($doc, $MODIFIED);
+	$ce->{description} = do {
+		# extract description from manifest.js.gz epoch description
+		my $d;
+		my $data = $json->decode($doc->get_data);
+		for (values %$data) {
+			$d = $_->{description} // next;
+			$d =~ s/ \[epoch [0-9]+\]\z// or next;
+			last;
+		}
+		$d;
+	}
+}
+
+sub _nntpd_cache_load { # retry_reopen callback
+	my ($self) = @_;
+	my $opt = { limit => $self->{xdb}->get_doccount * 10, relevance => -1 };
+	my $mset = mset($self, 'type:newsgroup type:inbox', $opt);
+	my $cache = {};
+	for my $it ($mset->items) {
+		ibx_cache_load($it->get_document, $cache);
+	}
+	$cache
+}
+
+# returns { newsgroup => $cache_entry } mapping, $cache_entry contains
+# anything which may trigger seeks at startup, currently: description,
+# -modified, and uidvalidity.
+sub nntpd_cache_load {
+	my ($self) = @_;
+	retry_reopen($self, \&_nntpd_cache_load);
+}
+
+no warnings 'once';
+*reopen = \&PublicInbox::Search::reopen;
 
 1;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm
index 7f9a1d58558fb963707bd191dfa96107d6dd5dd5..6907a03cc4ed37e9ebb9582633b9c3169d35a5a7 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm
@@ -36,10 +36,12 @@ sub refresh_groups {
 	my ($self, $sig) = @_;
 	my $pi_cfg = $sig ? PublicInbox::Config->new : $self->{pi_cfg};
 	my $groups = $pi_cfg->{-by_newsgroup}; # filled during each_inbox
+	my $cache = eval { $pi_cfg->ALL->misc->nntpd_cache_load } // {};
 	$pi_cfg->each_inbox(sub {
 		my ($ibx) = @_;
 		my $ngname = $ibx->{newsgroup} // return;
-		if ($ibx->nntp_usable) {
+		my $ce = $cache->{$ngname};
+		if (($ce and (%$ibx = (%$ibx, %$ce))) || $ibx->nntp_usable) {
 			# only valid if msgmap and over works
 			# preload to avoid fragmentation:
 			$ibx->description;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/OverIdx.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/OverIdx.pm
index c8630ddb3da72a8cf490ee2b6be43c06512b6a05..bc2e3ef40b0b3980fe8b7de4d8bdd572f276232c 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/OverIdx.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/OverIdx.pm
@@ -473,10 +473,14 @@ }
 
 sub create {
 	my ($self) = @_;
-	unless (-r $self->{filename}) {
+	my $fn = $self->{filename} // do {
+		Carp::confess('BUG: no {filename}') unless $self->{dbh};
+		return;
+	};
+	unless (-r $fn) {
 		require File::Path;
 		require File::Basename;
-		File::Path::mkpath(File::Basename::dirname($self->{filename}));
+		File::Path::mkpath(File::Basename::dirname($fn));
 	}
 	# create the DB:
 	PublicInbox::Over::dbh($self);
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
index bca2036cae6778d4bc76ba18a8019603e830a689..58653c9e8fc41f590bac28b4b0814756ff3960e3 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ # Read-only search interface for use by the web and NNTP interfaces
 package PublicInbox::Search;
 use strict;
 use parent qw(Exporter);
-our @EXPORT_OK = qw(retry_reopen);
+our @EXPORT_OK = qw(retry_reopen int_val);
 use List::Util qw(max);
 
 # values for searching, changing the numeric value breaks
@@ -58,7 +58,11 @@ our $QP_FLAGS;
 our %X = map { $_ => 0 } qw(BoolWeight Database Enquire QueryParser Stem Query);
 our $Xap; # 'Search::Xapian' or 'Xapian'
 our $NVRP; # '$Xap::'.('NumberValueRangeProcessor' or 'NumberRangeProcessor')
-our $ENQ_ASCENDING;
+
+# ENQ_DESCENDING and ENQ_ASCENDING weren't in SWIG Xapian.pm prior to 1.4.16,
+# let's hope the ABI is stable
+our $ENQ_DESCENDING = 0;
+our $ENQ_ASCENDING = 1;
 
 sub load_xapian () {
 	return 1 if defined $Xap;
@@ -84,13 +88,8 @@ 		$NVRP = $x.'::'.($x eq 'Xapian' && $xver ge v1.5 ?
 			'NumberRangeProcessor' : 'NumberValueRangeProcessor');
 		$X{$_} = $Xap.'::'.$_ for (keys %X);
 
-		# ENQ_ASCENDING doesn't seem exported by SWIG Xapian.pm,
-		# so lets hope this part of the ABI is stable because it's
-		# just an integer:
-		$ENQ_ASCENDING = $x eq 'Xapian' ?
-				1 : Search::Xapian::ENQ_ASCENDING();
-
 		*sortable_serialise = $x.'::sortable_serialise';
+		*sortable_unserialise = $x.'::sortable_unserialise';
 		# n.b. FLAG_PURE_NOT is expensive not suitable for a public
 		# website as it could become a denial-of-service vector
 		# FLAG_PHRASE also seems to cause performance problems chert
@@ -266,7 +265,6 @@ 	my ($self, $query_string, $opts) = @_;
 	$opts ||= {};
 	my $qp = $self->{qp} //= qparse_new($self);
 	my $query = $qp->parse_query($query_string, $self->{qp_flags});
-	$opts->{relevance} = 1 unless exists $opts->{relevance};
 	_do_enquire($self, $query, $opts);
 }
 
@@ -324,13 +322,17 @@ 	my $enquire = $X{Enquire}->new($xdb);
 	$enquire->set_query($query);
 	$opts ||= {};
         my $desc = !$opts->{asc};
-	if (($opts->{mset} || 0) == 2) { # mset == 2: ORDER BY docid/UID
+	my $rel = $opts->{relevance} // 0;
+	if ($rel == -1) { # ORDER BY docid/UID
+		$enquire->set_weighting_scheme($X{BoolWeight}->new);
 		$enquire->set_docid_order($ENQ_ASCENDING);
+	} elsif ($rel == 0) {
+		$enquire->set_sort_by_value_then_relevance(TS, $desc);
+	} elsif ($rel == -2) {
 		$enquire->set_weighting_scheme($X{BoolWeight}->new);
-	} elsif ($opts->{relevance}) {
+		$enquire->set_docid_order($ENQ_DESCENDING);
+	} else { # rel > 0
 		$enquire->set_sort_by_relevance_then_value(TS, $desc);
-	} else {
-		$enquire->set_sort_by_value_then_relevance(TS, $desc);
 	}
 
 	# `mairix -t / --threads' or JMAP collapseThreads
@@ -414,6 +416,12 @@ 	if (my $user_pfx = $self->{-user_pfx}) {
 		push @ret, @$user_pfx;
 	}
 	\@ret;
+}
+
+sub int_val ($$) {
+	my ($doc, $col) = @_;
+	my $val = $doc->get_value($col) or return; # undefined is '' in Xapian
+	sortable_unserialise($val) + 0; # PV => IV conversion
 }
 
 1;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
index 7e2843e938989d067a2c8f089f5fad6f6314c968..95f4234c4b2b26cc2ca85ccd784a7d56b577db88 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
@@ -64,7 +64,6 @@ 	if ($ibx->{-skip_docdata}) {
 		$self->{-set_skip_docdata_once} = 1;
 		$self->{-skip_docdata} = 1;
 	}
-	$ibx->umask_prepare;
 	if ($version == 1) {
 		$self->{lock_path} = "$inboxdir/ssoma.lock";
 		my $dir = $self->xdir;
@@ -103,7 +102,6 @@ 		$X->{$_} = $xap.'::'.$_;
 	}
 	eval 'require '.$X->{WritableDatabase} or die;
 	*sortable_serialise = $xap.'::sortable_serialise';
-	*sortable_unserialise = $xap.'::sortable_unserialise';
 	$DB_CREATE_OR_OPEN = eval($xap.'::DB_CREATE_OR_OPEN()');
 	$DB_OPEN = eval($xap.'::DB_OPEN()');
 	my $ver = (eval($xap.'::major_version()') << 16) |
@@ -539,17 +537,12 @@ 	} for @kw;
 	$self->{xdb}->replace_document($docid, $doc) if $replace;
 }
 
-sub get_val ($$) {
-	my ($doc, $col) = @_;
-	sortable_unserialise($doc->get_value($col));
-}
-
 sub smsg_from_doc ($) {
 	my ($doc) = @_;
 	my $data = $doc->get_data or return;
 	my $smsg = bless {}, 'PublicInbox::Smsg';
-	$smsg->{ts} = get_val($doc, PublicInbox::Search::TS());
-	my $dt = get_val($doc, PublicInbox::Search::DT());
+	$smsg->{ts} = int_val($doc, PublicInbox::Search::TS());
+	my $dt = int_val($doc, PublicInbox::Search::DT());
 	my ($yyyy, $mon, $dd, $hh, $mm, $ss) = unpack('A4A2A2A2A2A2', $dt);
 	$smsg->{ds} = timegm($ss, $mm, $hh, $dd, $mon - 1, $yyyy);
 	$smsg->load_from_data($data);
@@ -660,6 +653,7 @@ 	my $eml = PublicInbox::Eml->new($bref);
 	$smsg->{num} = index_mm($self, $eml, $oid, $sync) or
 		die "E: could not generate NNTP article number for $oid";
 	add_message($self, $eml, $smsg, $sync);
+	++$self->{nidx};
 	my $cur_cmt = $sync->{cur_cmt} // die 'BUG: {cur_cmt} missing';
 	${$sync->{latest_cmt}} = $cur_cmt;
 }
@@ -674,6 +668,7 @@ 	# may be undef if leftover
 	if (defined(my $cur_cmt = $sync->{cur_cmt})) {
 		${$sync->{latest_cmt}} = $cur_cmt;
 	}
+	++$self->{nidx};
 }
 
 sub with_umask {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Syscall.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Syscall.pm
index e4f00a2a2f736a995072dbac0db320ea49cb925e..c403f78ad209eac4c5c89f80c0545b17871e6619 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Syscall.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Syscall.pm
@@ -227,38 +227,46 @@ #  arrayref: values modified to be [$fd, $event]
 our $epoll_wait_events;
 our $epoll_wait_size = 0;
 sub epoll_wait_mod4 {
-    # resize our static buffer if requested size is bigger than we've ever done
-    if ($_[1] > $epoll_wait_size) {
-        $epoll_wait_size = $_[1];
-        $epoll_wait_events = "\0" x 12 x $epoll_wait_size;
-    }
-    my $ct = syscall($SYS_epoll_wait, $_[0]+0, $epoll_wait_events, $_[1]+0, $_[2]+0);
-    for (0..$ct-1) {
-        @{$_[3]->[$_]}[1,0] = unpack("LL", substr($epoll_wait_events, 12*$_, 8));
-    }
-    return $ct;
+	my ($epfd, $maxevents, $timeout_msec, $events) = @_;
+	# resize our static buffer if maxevents bigger than we've ever done
+	if ($maxevents > $epoll_wait_size) {
+		$epoll_wait_size = $maxevents;
+		vec($epoll_wait_events, $maxevents * 12 * 8 - 1, 1) = 0;
+	}
+	@$events = ();
+	my $ct = syscall($SYS_epoll_wait, $epfd, $epoll_wait_events,
+			$maxevents, $timeout_msec);
+	for (0..$ct - 1) {
+		# 12-byte struct epoll_event
+		# 4 bytes uint32_t events mask (skipped, useless to us)
+		# 8 bytes: epoll_data_t union (first 4 bytes are the fd)
+		# So we skip the first 4 bytes and take the middle 4:
+		$events->[$_] = unpack('L', substr($epoll_wait_events,
+							12 * $_ + 4, 4));
+	}
 }
 
 sub epoll_wait_mod8 {
-    # resize our static buffer if requested size is bigger than we've ever done
-    if ($_[1] > $epoll_wait_size) {
-        $epoll_wait_size = $_[1];
-        $epoll_wait_events = "\0" x 16 x $epoll_wait_size;
-    }
-    my $ct;
-    if ($no_deprecated) {
-        $ct = syscall($SYS_epoll_wait, $_[0]+0, $epoll_wait_events, $_[1]+0, $_[2]+0, undef);
-    } else {
-        $ct = syscall($SYS_epoll_wait, $_[0]+0, $epoll_wait_events, $_[1]+0, $_[2]+0);
-    }
-    for (0..$ct-1) {
-        # 16 byte epoll_event structs, with format:
-        #    4 byte mask [idx 1]
-        #    4 byte padding (we put it into idx 2, useless)
-        #    8 byte data (first 4 bytes are fd, into idx 0)
-        @{$_[3]->[$_]}[1,2,0] = unpack("LLL", substr($epoll_wait_events, 16*$_, 12));
-    }
-    return $ct;
+	my ($epfd, $maxevents, $timeout_msec, $events) = @_;
+
+	# resize our static buffer if maxevents bigger than we've ever done
+	if ($maxevents > $epoll_wait_size) {
+		$epoll_wait_size = $maxevents;
+		vec($epoll_wait_events, $maxevents * 16 * 8 - 1, 1) = 0;
+	}
+	@$events = ();
+	my $ct = syscall($SYS_epoll_wait, $epfd, $epoll_wait_events,
+			$maxevents, $timeout_msec,
+			$no_deprecated ? undef : ());
+	for (0..$ct - 1) {
+		# 16-byte struct epoll_event
+		# 4 bytes uint32_t events mask (skipped, useless to us)
+		# 4 bytes padding (skipped, useless)
+		# 8 bytes epoll_data_t union (first 4 bytes are the fd)
+		# So skip the first 8 bytes, take 4, and ignore the last 4:
+		$events->[$_] = unpack('L', substr($epoll_wait_events,
+							16 * $_ + 8, 4));
+	}
 }
 
 sub signalfd ($$$) {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Unsubscribe.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Unsubscribe.pm
index b0d3220c3b51f6b80ee80dcffedc401ac282510c..ae0b06793f6f81d85e5a42ea7e9b7671151c5599 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Unsubscribe.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Unsubscribe.pm
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ use warnings;
 use Crypt::CBC;
 use Plack::Util;
 use MIME::Base64 qw(decode_base64url);
-my $CODE_URL = 'https://public-inbox.org/public-inbox.git';
+my @CODE_URL = qw(http://ou63pmih66umazou.onion/public-inbox.git
+	https://public-inbox.org/public-inbox.git);
 my @CT_HTML = ('Content-Type', 'text/html; charset=UTF-8');
 
 sub new {
@@ -38,13 +39,15 @@ 	my $e = $opt{owner_email} or die "`owner_email' not specified\n";
 	my $unsubscribe = $opt{unsubscribe} or
 		die "`unsubscribe' callback not given\n";
 
+	my $code_url = $opt{code_url} || \@CODE_URL;
+	$code_url = [ $code_url ] if ref($code_url) ne 'ARRAY';
 	bless {
 		pi_cfg => $opt{pi_config}, # PublicInbox::Config
 		owner_email => $opt{owner_email},
 		cipher => $cipher,
 		unsubscribe => $unsubscribe,
 		contact => qq(<a\nhref="mailto:$e">$e</a>),
-		code_url => $opt{code_url} || $CODE_URL,
+		code_url => $code_url,
 		confirm => $opt{confirm},
 	}, $class;
 }
@@ -138,7 +141,7 @@ 	[ $code, [ @CT_HTML ], [
 		"<html><head><title>$title</title></head><body><pre>".
 		join("\n", "<b>$title</b>\n", @body) . '</pre><hr>'.
 		"<pre>This page is available under AGPL-3.0+\n" .
-		"git clone $self->{code_url}\n" .
+		join('', map { "git clone $_\n" } @{$self->{code_url}}) .
 		qq(Email $self->{contact} if you have any questions).
 		'</pre></body></html>'
 	] ];
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
index 7d41b0f612f5440a6aa182fd4f1eeaed89e2ba63..edb8ba570f0ae2e9a6a127d2e778160a8b68a255 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
@@ -91,8 +91,6 @@ 		} else {
 			die "$dir does not exist\n";
 		}
 	}
-	$v2ibx->umask_prepare;
-
 	my $xpfx = "$dir/xap" . PublicInbox::Search::SCHEMA_VERSION;
 	my $self = {
 		ibx => $v2ibx,
@@ -314,7 +312,6 @@ 	delete @$ibx{qw(mm search)};
 	$ibx->git->cleanup;
 
 	parallel_init($self, $ibx->{indexlevel});
-	$ibx->umask_prepare;
 	$ibx->with_umask(\&_idx_init, $self, $opt);
 }
 
@@ -876,7 +873,7 @@ 	} else {
 		$self->done; # release lock
 	}
 
-	if (my $pr = $sync->{-opt}->{-progress}) {
+	if (my $pr = $sync->{-regen_fmt} ? $sync->{-opt}->{-progress} : undef) {
 		$pr->(sprintf($sync->{-regen_fmt}, ${$sync->{nr}}));
 	}
 
@@ -888,12 +885,22 @@ 	}
 	$mm_tmp->atfork_parent if $mm_tmp;
 }
 
+sub index_finalize ($$) {
+	my ($arg, $index) = @_;
+	++$arg->{self}->{nidx};
+	if (defined(my $cur = $arg->{cur_cmt})) {
+		${$arg->{latest_cmt}} = $cur;
+	} elsif ($index) {
+		die 'BUG: {cur_cmt} missing';
+	} # else { unindexing @leftovers doesn't set {cur_cmt}
+}
+
 sub index_oid { # cat_async callback
 	my ($bref, $oid, $type, $size, $arg) = @_;
-	return if is_bad_blob($oid, $type, $size, $arg->{oid});
+	is_bad_blob($oid, $type, $size, $arg->{oid}) and
+		return index_finalize($arg, 1); # size == 0 purged returns here
 	my $self = $arg->{self};
 	local $self->{current_info} = "$self->{current_info} $oid";
-	return if $size == 0; # purged
 	my ($num, $mid0);
 	my $eml = PublicInbox::Eml->new($$bref);
 	my $mids = mids($eml);
@@ -964,7 +971,7 @@ 	$smsg->populate($eml, $arg);
 	if (do_idx($self, $bref, $eml, $smsg)) {
 		${$arg->{need_checkpoint}} = 1;
 	}
-	${$arg->{latest_cmt}} = $arg->{cur_cmt} // die 'BUG: {cur_cmt} missing';
+	index_finalize($arg, 1);
 }
 
 # only update last_commit for $i on reindex iff newer than current
@@ -1091,12 +1098,14 @@ 		my $git_dir = "$git_pfx/$i.git";
 		-d $git_dir or next; # missing epochs are fine
 		my $git = PublicInbox::Git->new($git_dir);
 		my $unit = { git => $git, epoch => $i };
+		my $tip;
 		if ($reindex_heads) {
-			$head = $reindex_heads->[$i] or next;
+			$tip = $head = $reindex_heads->[$i] or next;
+		} else {
+			$tip = $git->qx(qw(rev-parse -q --verify), $head);
+			next if $?; # new repo
+			chomp $tip;
 		}
-		chomp(my $tip = $git->qx(qw(rev-parse -q --verify), $head));
-		next if $?; # new repo
-
 		my $range = log_range($sync, $unit, $tip) or next;
 		# can't use 'rev-list --count' if we use --diff-filter
 		$pr->("$pfx $i.git counting $range ... ") if $pr;
@@ -1154,11 +1163,12 @@ 	}
 }
 
 sub unindex_oid ($$;$) { # git->cat_async callback
-	my ($bref, $oid, $type, $size, $sync) = @_;
-	return if is_bad_blob($oid, $type, $size, $sync->{oid});
-	my $self = $sync->{self};
+	my ($bref, $oid, $type, $size, $arg) = @_;
+	is_bad_blob($oid, $type, $size, $arg->{oid}) and
+		return index_finalize($arg, 0);
+	my $self = $arg->{self};
 	local $self->{current_info} = "$self->{current_info} $oid";
-	my $unindexed = $sync->{in_unindex} ? $sync->{unindexed} : undef;
+	my $unindexed = $arg->{in_unindex} ? $arg->{unindexed} : undef;
 	my $mm = $self->{mm};
 	my $mids = mids(PublicInbox::Eml->new($bref));
 	undef $$bref;
@@ -1183,6 +1193,7 @@ 			$mm->num_delete($num);
 		}
 		unindex_oid_aux($self, $oid, $mid);
 	}
+	index_finalize($arg, 0);
 }
 
 sub git { $_[0]->{ibx}->git }
@@ -1348,11 +1359,19 @@ 	my ($self, $opt) = @_;
 	$opt //= {};
 	return xapian_only($self, $opt) if $opt->{xapian_only};
 
-	my $pr = $opt->{-progress};
 	my $epoch_max;
-	my $latest = $self->{ibx}->git_dir_latest(\$epoch_max);
-	return unless defined $latest;
+	my $latest = $self->{ibx}->git_dir_latest(\$epoch_max) // return;
+	if ($opt->{'fast-noop'}) { # nanosecond (st_ctim) comparison
+		use Time::HiRes qw(stat);
+		if (my @mm = stat("$self->{ibx}->{inboxdir}/msgmap.sqlite3")) {
+			my $c = $mm[10]; # 10 = ctime (nsec NV)
+			my @hd = stat("$latest/refs/heads");
+			my @pr = stat("$latest/packed-refs");
+			return if $c > ($hd[10] // 0) && $c > ($pr[10] // 0);
+		}
+	}
 
+	my $pr = $opt->{-progress};
 	my $seq = $opt->{sequential_shard};
 	my $art_beg; # the NNTP article number we start xapian_only at
 	my $idxlevel = $self->{ibx}->{indexlevel};
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/WWW.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/WWW.pm
index a33d25abd44e314b489549a7ea08bb9ad7f4365e..52630ae3eccc4d48c734e9cceca0b587b4f4f7a7 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/WWW.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/WWW.pm
@@ -505,7 +505,7 @@ 	my ($ctx, $inbox, $key) = @_;
 	my $r404 = invalid_inbox($ctx, $inbox);
 	return $r404 if $r404;
 	require PublicInbox::ManifestJsGz;
-	PublicInbox::ManifestJsGz->response($ctx);
+	PublicInbox::ManifestJsGz::per_inbox($ctx);
 }
 
 sub get_attach {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Watch.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Watch.pm
index e1246096dc7b70fd0e1fadfa3e93ccc4df7a7bfc..bc296e01fc3ac7baec4e50dc082e7aef59457a2e 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Watch.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Watch.pm
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ 	unless ($inboxes) {
 		warn "unmappable dir: $1\n";
 		return;
 	}
-	my $warn_cb = $SIG{__WARN__} || sub { print STDERR @_ };
+	my $warn_cb = $SIG{__WARN__} || \&CORE::warn;
 	local $SIG{__WARN__} = sub {
 		my $pfx = ($_[0] // '') =~ /^([A-Z]: )/g ? $1 : '';
 		$warn_cb->($pfx, "path: $path\n", @_);
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ 	# TODO: FLAGS may be useful for personal use
 	my $key = $req;
 	$key =~ s/\.PEEK//;
 	my ($uids, $batch);
-	my $warn_cb = $SIG{__WARN__} || sub { print STDERR @_ };
+	my $warn_cb = $SIG{__WARN__} || \&CORE::warn;
 	local $SIG{__WARN__} = sub {
 		my $pfx = ($_[0] // '') =~ /^([A-Z]: )/g ? $1 : '';
 		$batch //= '?';
@@ -929,7 +929,7 @@ 	return if $l_art >= $end; # nothing to do
 	$beg = $l_art + 1;
 
 	warn "I: $url fetching ARTICLE $beg..$end\n";
-	my $warn_cb = $SIG{__WARN__} || sub { print STDERR @_ };
+	my $warn_cb = $SIG{__WARN__} || \&CORE::warn;
 	my ($err, $art);
 	local $SIG{__WARN__} = sub {
 		my $pfx = ($_[0] // '') =~ /^([A-Z]: )/g ? $1 : '';
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/WwwListing.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/WwwListing.pm
index fce0e530b24feb91393951cf24223c99ffb4c115..4b3f1674ed18150c820b2b45101c1868ab8c6ce8 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/WwwListing.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/WwwListing.pm
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@
 sub response {
 	my ($class, $ctx) = @_;
 	bless $ctx, $class;
+	if (my $ALL = $ctx->{www}->{pi_cfg}->ALL) {
+		$ALL->misc->reopen;
+	}
 	my $re = $ctx->url_regexp or return $ctx->psgi_triple;
 	my $iter = PublicInbox::ConfigIter->new($ctx->{www}->{pi_cfg},
 						\&list_match_i, $re, $ctx);
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/WwwStream.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/WwwStream.pm
index 66e34a12e885c12c95454933cb42f5082545c53e..958251a347d55edc89a8501773e325c90460749e 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/WwwStream.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/WwwStream.pm
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ our @EXPORT_OK = qw(html_oneshot);
 use bytes (); # length
 use PublicInbox::Hval qw(ascii_html prurl ts2str);
 our $TOR_URL = 'https://www.torproject.org/';
-our $CODE_URL = 'https://public-inbox.org/public-inbox.git';
+our $CODE_URL = [ qw(http://ou63pmih66umazou.onion/public-inbox.git
+	https://public-inbox.org/public-inbox.git) ];
 
 sub base_url ($) {
 	my $ctx = shift;
@@ -78,22 +79,24 @@ }
 
 sub coderepos ($) {
 	my ($ctx) = @_;
-	my $ibx = $ctx->{ibx};
+	my $cr = $ctx->{ibx}->{coderepo} // return ();
+	my $cfg = $ctx->{www}->{pi_cfg};
+	my $upfx = ($ctx->{-upfx} // ''). '../';
 	my @ret;
-	if (defined(my $cr = $ibx->{coderepo})) {
-		my $cfg = $ctx->{www}->{pi_cfg};
-		my $env = $ctx->{env};
-		for my $cr_name (@$cr) {
-			my $urls = $cfg->{"coderepo.$cr_name.cgiturl"};
-			if ($urls) {
-				$ret[0] //= <<EOF;
+	for my $cr_name (@$cr) {
+		my $urls = $cfg->{"coderepo.$cr_name.cgiturl"} // next;
+		$ret[0] //= <<EOF;
 code repositories for the project(s) associated with this inbox:
 EOF
-				$ret[0] .= "\n\t".prurl($env, $_) for @$urls;
-			}
+		for (@$urls) {
+			# relative or absolute URL?, prefix relative "foo.git"
+			# with appropriate number of "../"
+			my $u = m!\A(?:[a-z\+]+:)?//! ? $_ : $upfx.$_;
+			$u = ascii_html(prurl($ctx->{env}, $u));
+			$ret[0] .= qq(\n\t<a\nhref="$u">$u</a>);
 		}
 	}
-	@ret; # may be empty
+	@ret; # may be empty, this sub is called as an arg for join()
 }
 
 sub code_footer ($) {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm
index 4f77ef25333abe91eacb256f0cf7d41f15f1f031..ca2345f764386b9438e81c3666a8de5d259e1549 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Xapcmd.pm
@@ -270,7 +270,6 @@ 	}
 
 	local %SIG = %SIG;
 	setup_signals();
-	$ibx->umask_prepare;
 	$ibx->with_umask(\&_run, $ibx, $cb, $opt);
 }
 
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-convert b/script/public-inbox-convert
index b61c743fd807157e9925201c8b89cbe7ca48e389..e6ee65296f0bdf27998856a06bf7c8d5b07ff626 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-convert
+++ b/script/public-inbox-convert
@@ -47,34 +47,21 @@ die $help if (scalar(@ARGV) || $new_dir eq '' || $old_dir eq '');
 die "$new_dir exists\n" if -d $new_dir;
 die "$old_dir not a directory\n" unless -d $old_dir;
 
-require Cwd;
-Cwd->import('abs_path');
+require PublicInbox::Admin;
 require PublicInbox::Config;
 require PublicInbox::InboxWritable;
 
-my $abs = abs_path($old_dir);
-die "failed to resolve $old_dir: $!\n" if (!defined($abs));
-
 my $cfg = PublicInbox::Config->new;
-my $old;
-$cfg->each_inbox(sub {
-	$old = $_[0] if abs_path($_[0]->{inboxdir}) eq $old_dir;
-});
-if ($old) {
-	$old = PublicInbox::InboxWritable->new($old);
-} else {
+my @old = PublicInbox::Admin::resolve_inboxes([$old_dir], undef, $cfg);
+@old > 1 and die "BUG: resolved several inboxes from $old_dir:\n",
+		map { "\t$_->{inboxdir}\n" } @old;
+my $old = PublicInbox::InboxWritable->new($old[0]);
+if (delete $old->{-unconfigured}) {
 	warn "W: $old_dir not configured in " .
 		PublicInbox::Config::default_file() . "\n";
-	$old = PublicInbox::InboxWritable->new({
-		inboxdir => $old_dir,
-		name => 'ignored',
-		-primary_address => 'old@example.com',
-		address => [ 'old@example.com' ],
-	});
 }
 die "Only conversion from v1 inboxes is supported\n" if $old->version >= 2;
 
-require File::Spec;
 require PublicInbox::Admin;
 my $detected = PublicInbox::Admin::detect_indexlevel($old);
 $old->{indexlevel} //= $detected;
@@ -88,12 +75,11 @@ 	$env = PublicInbox::Admin::index_prepare($opt, $cfg);
 }
 local %ENV = (%$env, %ENV) if $env;
 my $new = { %$old };
-$new->{inboxdir} = File::Spec->canonpath($new_dir);
+$new->{inboxdir} = $cfg->rel2abs_collapsed($new_dir);
 $new->{version} = 2;
 $new = PublicInbox::InboxWritable->new($new, { nproc => $opt->{jobs} });
 $new->{-no_fsync} = 1 if !$opt->{fsync};
 my $v2w;
-$old->umask_prepare;
 
 sub link_or_copy ($$) {
 	my ($src, $dst) = @_;
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-edit b/script/public-inbox-edit
index a70614fc2a4074e1c35485a2a290ddefe7ab0249..81f023bca1873e87491dddcfc141a006beb9e309 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-edit
+++ b/script/public-inbox-edit
@@ -183,7 +183,8 @@ 	# reread the edited file, not using $edit_fh since $EDITOR may
 	# rename/relink $edit_fn
 	open my $new_fh, '<', $edit_fn or
 		die "can't read edited file ($edit_fn): $!\n";
-	my $new_raw = do { local $/; <$new_fh> };
+	defined(my $new_raw = do { local $/; <$new_fh> }) or die
+		"read $edit_fn: $!\n";
 
 	if (!$opt->{raw}) {
 		# get rid of the From we added
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-extindex b/script/public-inbox-extindex
index 17ad59fac3e21ba00ed7cdcb5710dec5e5b7734e..5f27988ffda80e4d6f3f97a34e4946947100fed9 100644
--- a/script/public-inbox-extindex
+++ b/script/public-inbox-extindex
@@ -6,11 +6,12 @@ use strict;
 use v5.10.1;
 use Getopt::Long qw(:config gnu_getopt no_ignore_case auto_abbrev);
 my $help = <<EOF; # the following should fit w/o scrolling in 80x24 term:
-usage: public-inbox-extindex [options] EXTINDEX_DIR [INBOX_DIR]
+usage: public-inbox-extindex [options] [EXTINDEX_DIR] [INBOX_DIR...]
 
   Create and update external (detached) search indices
 
   --no-fsync          speed up indexing, risk corruption on power outage
+  --watch             run persistently and watch for inbox updates
   -L LEVEL            `medium', or `full' (default: full)
   --all               index all configured inboxes
   --jobs=NUM          set or disable parallelization (NUM=0)
@@ -22,26 +23,36 @@
 BYTES may use `k', `m', and `g' suffixes (e.g. `10m' for 10 megabytes)
 See public-inbox-extindex(1) man page for full documentation.
 EOF
-my $opt = { quiet => -1, compact => 0, max_size => undef, fsync => 1 };
+my $opt = { quiet => -1, compact => 0, fsync => 1, scan => 1 };
 GetOptions($opt, qw(verbose|v+ reindex rethread compact|c+ jobs|j=i
 		fsync|sync!
 		indexlevel|index-level|L=s max_size|max-size=s
 		batch_size|batch-size=s
-		gc
+		gc commit-interval=i watch scan!
 		all help|h))
 	or die $help;
 if ($opt->{help}) { print $help; exit 0 };
 die "--jobs must be >= 0\n" if defined $opt->{jobs} && $opt->{jobs} < 0;
-
+require IO::Handle;
+STDOUT->autoflush(1);
+STDERR->autoflush(1);
+local $SIG{USR1} = 'IGNORE'; # to be overridden in eidx_sync
 # require lazily to speed up --help
-my $eidx_dir = shift(@ARGV) // die "E: $help";
-local $SIG{USR1} = 'IGNORE'; # to be overridden in eidx_sync
 require PublicInbox::Admin;
 my $cfg = PublicInbox::Config->new;
+my $eidx_dir = shift(@ARGV);
+unless (defined $eidx_dir) {
+	if ($opt->{all} && $cfg->ALL) {
+		$eidx_dir = $cfg->ALL->{topdir};
+	} else {
+		die "E: $help";
+	}
+}
 my @ibxs;
 if ($opt->{gc}) {
 	die "E: inbox paths must not be specified with --gc\n" if @ARGV;
-	die "E: --all not compatible --gc\n" if $opt->{all};
+	die "E: --all not compatible with --gc\n" if $opt->{all};
+	die "E: --watch is not compatible with --gc\n" if $opt->{watch};
 } else {
 	@ibxs = PublicInbox::Admin::resolve_inboxes(\@ARGV, $opt, $cfg);
 }
@@ -56,6 +67,15 @@ if ($opt->{gc}) {
 	$eidx->attach_config($cfg);
 	$eidx->eidx_gc($opt);
 } else {
-	$eidx->attach_inbox($_) for @ibxs;
-	$eidx->eidx_sync($opt);
+	if ($opt->{all}) {
+		$eidx->attach_config($cfg);
+	} else {
+		$eidx->attach_inbox($_) for @ibxs;
+	}
+	if ($opt->{watch}) {
+		$cfg = undef; # save memory only after SIGHUP
+		$eidx->eidx_watch($opt);
+	} else {
+		$eidx->eidx_sync($opt);
+	}
 }
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-index b/script/public-inbox-index
index 8a61817ce7f012401b9c606f3c54ff7519263c8d..0fdfddc06205cf63a64330ef3e5b375536d3674e 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-index
+++ b/script/public-inbox-index
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ options:
 
   --no-fsync          speed up indexing, risk corruption on power outage
   -L LEVEL            `basic', `medium', or `full' (default: full)
-  -E EIDX             update EIDX (e.g. `all')
+  -E EXTINDEX         update extindex (default: `all')
   --all               index all configured inboxes
   --compact | -c      run public-inbox-compact(1) after indexing
   --sequential-shard  index Xapian shards sequentially for slow storage
@@ -32,18 +32,25 @@
 BYTES may use `k', `m', and `g' suffixes (e.g. `10m' for 10 megabytes)
 See public-inbox-index(1) man page for full documentation.
 EOF
-my $opt = { quiet => -1, compact => 0, max_size => undef, fsync => 1 };
+my $opt = {
+	quiet => -1, compact => 0, max_size => undef, fsync => 1,
+	'update-extindex' => [], # ":s@" optional arg sets '' if no arg given
+};
 GetOptions($opt, qw(verbose|v+ reindex rethread compact|c+ jobs|j=i prune
 		fsync|sync! xapian_only|xapian-only
 		indexlevel|index-level|L=s max_size|max-size=s
 		batch_size|batch-size=s
 		sequential_shard|seq-shard|sequential-shard
-		skip-docdata all help|h))
+		no-update-extindex update-extindex|E=s@
+		fast-noop|F skip-docdata all help|h))
 	or die $help;
 if ($opt->{help}) { print $help; exit 0 };
 die "--jobs must be >= 0\n" if defined $opt->{jobs} && $opt->{jobs} < 0;
 if ($opt->{xapian_only} && !$opt->{reindex}) {
 	die "--xapian-only requires --reindex\n";
+}
+if ($opt->{reindex} && delete($opt->{'fast-noop'})) {
+	warn "--fast-noop ignored with --reindex\n";
 }
 
 # require lazily to speed up --help
@@ -56,7 +63,34 @@ my @ibxs = PublicInbox::Admin::resolve_inboxes(\@ARGV, $opt, $cfg);
 PublicInbox::Admin::require_or_die('-index');
 unless (@ibxs) { print STDERR $help; exit 1 }
 
+my (@eidx, %eidx_seen);
+my $update_extindex = $opt->{'update-extindex'};
+if (!scalar(@$update_extindex) && (my $ALL = $cfg->ALL)) {
+	# extindex and normal inboxes may have different owners
+	push(@$update_extindex, 'all') if -w $ALL->{topdir};
+}
+@$update_extindex = () if $opt->{'no-update-extindex'};
+if (scalar @$update_extindex) {
+	PublicInbox::Admin::require_or_die('-search');
+	require PublicInbox::ExtSearchIdx;
+}
+for my $ei_name (@$update_extindex) {
+	my $es = $cfg->lookup_ei($ei_name);
+	my $topdir;
+	if (!$es && -d $ei_name) { # allow dirname or config section name
+		$topdir = $ei_name;
+	} elsif ($es) {
+		$topdir = $es->{topdir};
+	} else {
+		die "extindex `$ei_name' not configured or found\n";
+	}
+	my $o = { %$opt };
+	delete $o->{indexlevel} if ($o->{indexlevel}//'') eq 'basic';
+	$eidx_seen{$topdir} //=
+		push(@eidx, PublicInbox::ExtSearchIdx->new($topdir, $o));
+}
 my $mods = {};
+my @eidx_unconfigured;
 foreach my $ibx (@ibxs) {
 	# detect_indexlevel may also set $ibx->{-skip_docdata}
 	my $detected = PublicInbox::Admin::detect_indexlevel($ibx);
@@ -64,7 +98,14 @@ 	# XXX: users can shoot themselves in the foot, with opt->{indexlevel}
 	$ibx->{indexlevel} //= $opt->{indexlevel} // ($opt->{xapian_only} ?
 			'full' : $detected);
 	PublicInbox::Admin::scan_ibx_modules($mods, $ibx);
+	if (@eidx && $ibx->{-unconfigured}) {
+		push @eidx_unconfigured, "  $ibx->{inboxdir}\n";
+	}
 }
+warn <<EOF if @eidx_unconfigured;
+The following inboxes are unconfigured and will not be updated in
+@$update_extindex:\n@eidx_unconfigured
+EOF
 
 # "Search::Xapian" includes SWIG "Xapian", too:
 $opt->{compact} = 0 if !$mods->{'Search::Xapian'};
@@ -90,10 +131,21 @@ publicInbox.$ibx->{name}.indexSequentialShard not boolean
 EOL
 		$ibx_opt = { %$opt, sequential_shard => $v };
 	}
-	PublicInbox::Admin::index_inbox($ibx, undef, $ibx_opt);
+	my $nidx = PublicInbox::Admin::index_inbox($ibx, undef, $ibx_opt);
 	last if $ibx_opt->{quit};
 	if (my $copt = $opt->{compact_opt}) {
 		local $copt->{jobs} = 0 if $ibx_opt->{sequential_shard};
 		PublicInbox::Xapcmd::run($ibx, 'compact', $copt);
 	}
+	last if $ibx_opt->{quit};
+	next if $ibx->{-unconfigured} || !$nidx;
+	for my $eidx (@eidx) {
+		$eidx->attach_inbox($ibx);
+	}
+}
+my $pr = $opt->{-progress};
+for my $eidx (@eidx) {
+	$pr->("indexing $eidx->{topdir} ...\n") if $pr;
+	$eidx->eidx_sync($opt);
+	last if $opt->{quit};
 }
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-init b/script/public-inbox-init
index c775eb3146ba485bb22f16a03d45506c1cef85cb..7ac7783007a15d4cf98e51a545db503829909d0a 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-init
+++ b/script/public-inbox-init
@@ -100,11 +100,7 @@ 	$perm = $st[2];
 	defined $perm or die "(f)stat failed on $pi_config: $!\n";
 	chmod($perm & 07777, $fh) or
 		die "(f)chmod failed on future $pi_config: $!\n";
-	my $old;
-	{
-		local $/;
-		$old = <$oh>;
-	}
+	defined(my $old = do { local $/; <$oh> }) or die "read $pi_config: $!\n";
 	print $fh $old or die "failed to write: $!\n";
 	close $oh or die "failed to close $pi_config: $!\n";
 
@@ -138,10 +134,9 @@
 my $pfx = "publicinbox.$name";
 my @x = (qw/git config/, "--file=$pi_config_tmp");
 
-require File::Spec;
-$inboxdir = File::Spec->canonpath($inboxdir);
+$inboxdir = PublicInbox::Config::rel2abs_collapsed($inboxdir);
+die "`\\n' not allowed in `$inboxdir'\n" if index($inboxdir, "\n") >= 0;
 
-die "`\\n' not allowed in `$inboxdir'\n" if $inboxdir =~ /\n/s;
 if (-f "$inboxdir/inbox.lock") {
 	if (!defined $version) {
 		$version = 2;
@@ -186,11 +181,6 @@ 		die "--skip-docdata ignored with --indexlevel=basic\n";
 	$ibx->{-skip_docdata} = $skip_docdata;
 }
 $ibx->init_inbox(0, $skip_epoch, $skip_artnum);
-require Cwd;
-my $tmp = Cwd::abs_path($inboxdir);
-defined($tmp) or die "failed to resolve $inboxdir: $!\n";
-$inboxdir = $tmp;
-die "`\\n' not allowed in `$inboxdir'\n" if $inboxdir =~ /\n/s;
 
 # needed for git prior to v2.1.0
 umask(0077) if defined $perm;
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-learn b/script/public-inbox-learn
index 9352c8ff7dd41088796eb60607452cea3b98cc0d..1731a4ba4037c0ee889c09b8a1424378c0f5cdff 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-learn
+++ b/script/public-inbox-learn
@@ -39,8 +39,7 @@ my $spamc = PublicInbox::Spamcheck::Spamc->new;
 my $pi_cfg = PublicInbox::Config->new;
 my $err;
 my $mime = PublicInbox::Eml->new(do{
-	local $/;
-	my $data = <STDIN>;
+	defined(my $data = do { local $/; <STDIN> }) or die "read STDIN: $!\n";
 	$data =~ s/\A[\r\n]*From [^\r\n]*\r?\n//s;
 
 	if ($train ne 'rm') {
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-purge b/script/public-inbox-purge
index 7bca11eafc6fc81f1566a6c8fc6b37e27817e6fb..52f1f18a61cb210f283a30495577b7736870337c 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-purge
+++ b/script/public-inbox-purge
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 my @ibxs = PublicInbox::Admin::resolve_inboxes(\@ARGV, $opt);
 PublicInbox::AdminEdit::check_editable(\@ibxs);
 
-my $data = do { local $/; <STDIN> };
+defined(my $data = do { local $/; <STDIN> }) or die "read STDIN: $!\n";
 $data =~ s/\A[\r\n]*From [^\r\n]*\r?\n//s;
 my $n_purged = 0;
 
diff --git a/t/admin.t b/t/admin.t
index af1325775405d32feaf157808625b50b23fc8689..60c6037d44d4959cfcb02a57ff3722e7dd126f58 100644
--- a/t/admin.t
+++ b/t/admin.t
@@ -12,10 +12,7 @@ my $v2_dir = "$tmpdir/v2";
 my ($res, $err, $v);
 
 PublicInbox::Import::init_bare($git_dir);
-*resolve_inboxdir = do {
-	no warnings 'once';
-	*PublicInbox::Admin::resolve_inboxdir;
-};
+*resolve_inboxdir = \&PublicInbox::Admin::resolve_inboxdir;
 
 # v1
 is(resolve_inboxdir($git_dir), $git_dir, 'top-level GIT_DIR resolved');
@@ -72,16 +69,23 @@
 	ok(-e "$v2_dir/inbox.lock", 'exists');
 	is(resolve_inboxdir($v2_dir), $v2_dir,
 		'resolve_inboxdir works on v2_dir');
-	ok(chdir($v2_dir), 'chdir v2_dir OK');
+	chdir($v2_dir) or BAIL_OUT "chdir v2_dir: $!";
 	is(resolve_inboxdir(), $v2_dir, 'resolve_inboxdir works inside v2_dir');
 	$res = resolve_inboxdir(undef, \$v);
 	is($v, 2, 'version 2 detected');
 	is($res, $v2_dir, 'detects directory along with version');
 
 	# TODO: should work from inside Xapian dirs, and git dirs, here...
+	PublicInbox::Import::init_bare("$v2_dir/git/0.git");
+	my $objdir = "$v2_dir/git/0.git/objects";
+	is($v2_dir, resolve_inboxdir($objdir, \$v), 'at $objdir');
+	is($v, 2, 'version 2 detected at $objdir');
+	chdir($objdir) or BAIL_OUT "chdir objdir: $!";
+	is(resolve_inboxdir(undef, \$v), $v2_dir, 'inside $objdir');
+	is($v, 2, 'version 2 detected inside $objdir');
 }
 
-chdir '/';
+chdir '/' or BAIL_OUT "chdir: $!";
 
 my @pairs = (
 	'1g' => 1024 ** 3,
diff --git a/t/config.t b/t/config.t
index 99a7fef45793ccc2b5e5e8d10c6eddf2922bb42e..7fb44acceea1b90cdd2505fc2bbb3c75e538be7a 100644
--- a/t/config.t
+++ b/t/config.t
@@ -234,12 +234,13 @@ 		'bogus is undef');
 }
 
 SKIP: {
+	# XXX wildcard match requires git 2.26+
 	require_git('1.8.5', 2) or
 		skip 'git 1.8.5+ required for --url-match', 2;
 	my $f = "$tmpdir/urlmatch";
 	open my $fh, '>', $f or BAIL_OUT $!;
 	print $fh <<EOF or BAIL_OUT $!;
-[imap "imap://*.example.com"]
+[imap "imap://mail.example.com"]
 	pollInterval = 9
 EOF
 	close $fh or BAIL_OUT;
diff --git a/t/ds-poll.t b/t/ds-poll.t
index 3771059bb6ecb32edf30fcac17d359005a079337..0ee57b692a600aef2729eea6375ccf477a5321fb 100644
--- a/t/ds-poll.t
+++ b/t/ds-poll.t
@@ -16,35 +16,35 @@ pipe($r, $w) or die;
 pipe($x, $y) or die;
 is($p->epoll_ctl(EPOLL_CTL_ADD, fileno($r), EPOLLIN), 0, 'add EPOLLIN');
 my $events = [];
-my $n = $p->epoll_wait(9, 0, $events);
+$p->epoll_wait(9, 0, $events);
 is_deeply($events, [], 'no events set');
-is($n, 0, 'nothing ready, yet');
 is($p->epoll_ctl(EPOLL_CTL_ADD, fileno($w), EPOLLOUT|EPOLLONESHOT), 0,
 	'add EPOLLOUT|EPOLLONESHOT');
-$n = $p->epoll_wait(9, -1, $events);
-is($n, 1, 'got POLLOUT event');
-is($events->[0]->[0], fileno($w), '$w ready');
+$p->epoll_wait(9, -1, $events);
+is(scalar(@$events), 1, 'got POLLOUT event');
+is($events->[0], fileno($w), '$w ready');
 
-$n = $p->epoll_wait(9, 0, $events);
-is($n, 0, 'nothing ready after oneshot');
+$p->epoll_wait(9, 0, $events);
+is(scalar(@$events), 0, 'nothing ready after oneshot');
 is_deeply($events, [], 'no events set after oneshot');
 
 syswrite($w, '1') == 1 or die;
 for my $t (0..1) {
-	$n = $p->epoll_wait(9, $t, $events);
-	is($events->[0]->[0], fileno($r), "level-trigger POLLIN ready #$t");
-	is($n, 1, "only event ready #$t");
+	$p->epoll_wait(9, $t, $events);
+	is($events->[0], fileno($r), "level-trigger POLLIN ready #$t");
+	is(scalar(@$events), 1, "only event ready #$t");
 }
 syswrite($y, '1') == 1 or die;
 is($p->epoll_ctl(EPOLL_CTL_ADD, fileno($x), EPOLLIN|EPOLLONESHOT), 0,
 	'EPOLLIN|EPOLLONESHOT add');
-is($p->epoll_wait(9, -1, $events), 2, 'epoll_wait has 2 ready');
-my @fds = sort(map { $_->[0] } @$events);
+$p->epoll_wait(9, -1, $events);
+is(scalar @$events, 2, 'epoll_wait has 2 ready');
+my @fds = sort @$events;
 my @exp = sort((fileno($r), fileno($x)));
 is_deeply(\@fds, \@exp, 'got both ready FDs');
 
 is($p->epoll_ctl(EPOLL_CTL_DEL, fileno($r), 0), 0, 'EPOLL_CTL_DEL OK');
-$n = $p->epoll_wait(9, 0, $events);
-is($n, 0, 'nothing ready after EPOLL_CTL_DEL');
+$p->epoll_wait(9, 0, $events);
+is(scalar @$events, 0, 'nothing ready after EPOLL_CTL_DEL');
 
 done_testing;
diff --git a/t/epoll.t b/t/epoll.t
index b47650e34bb21b472349048e0f3843cdb1fbd88d..a1e73e07387d8cd74e1813ab06d312d7f2a1ae8c 100644
--- a/t/epoll.t
+++ b/t/epoll.t
@@ -12,11 +12,11 @@ is(epoll_ctl($epfd, EPOLL_CTL_ADD, fileno($w), EPOLLOUT), 0,
     'epoll_ctl socket EPOLLOUT');
 
 my @events;
-is(epoll_wait($epfd, 100, 10000, \@events), 1, 'epoll_wait returns');
+epoll_wait($epfd, 100, 10000, \@events);
 is(scalar(@events), 1, 'got one event');
-is($events[0]->[0], fileno($w), 'got expected FD');
-is($events[0]->[1], EPOLLOUT, 'got expected event');
+is($events[0], fileno($w), 'got expected FD');
 close $w;
-is(epoll_wait($epfd, 100, 0, \@events), 0, 'epoll_wait timeout');
+epoll_wait($epfd, 100, 0, \@events);
+is(@events, 0, 'epoll_wait timeout');
 
 done_testing;
diff --git a/t/git.t b/t/git.t
index dfd7173a432c78dd9072a9530be7e1695b4ee20d..2cfff248a01e6f51a3d838c01e9d17c3cff793a1 100644
--- a/t/git.t
+++ b/t/git.t
@@ -76,12 +76,17 @@ 	is($rsize, $size, 'got correct size ref on big file');
 	is(length($$x), $size, 'read correct number of bytes');
 
 	my $ref = $gcf->qx(qw(cat-file blob), $buf);
+	is($?, 0, 'no error on scalar success');
 	my @ref = $gcf->qx(qw(cat-file blob), $buf);
+	is($?, 0, 'no error on wantarray success');
 	my $nl = scalar @ref;
 	ok($nl > 1, "qx returned array length of $nl");
+	is(join('', @ref), $ref, 'qx array and scalar context both work');
 
 	$gcf->qx(qw(repack -adq));
 	ok($gcf->packed_bytes > 0, 'packed size is positive');
+	$gcf->qx(qw(rev-parse --verify bogus));
+	isnt($?, 0, '$? set on failure'.$?);
 }
 
 SKIP: {
diff --git a/t/imapd.t b/t/imapd.t
index 43ec200cd25d6c54fc85da364b6d1f738affa011..63a86e7126960f1c0a04fd5fb4a0855770c2e6f6 100644
--- a/t/imapd.t
+++ b/t/imapd.t
@@ -296,27 +296,11 @@ 	};
 
 	# ensure IDLE persists across HUP, w/o extra watches or FDs
 	$td->kill('HUP') or BAIL_OUT "failed to kill -imapd: $!";
-	SKIP: {
-		skip 'no inotify fdinfo (or support)', 2 if !@ino_info;
-		my (@tmp, %prev);
-		local $/ = "\n";
-		my $end = time + 5;
-		until (time > $end) {
-			select undef, undef, undef, 0.01;
-			open my $fh, '<', $ino_fdinfo or
-						BAIL_OUT "$ino_fdinfo: $!";
-			%prev = map { $_ => 1 } @ino_info;
-			@tmp = grep(/^inotify wd:/, <$fh>);
-			if (scalar(@tmp) == scalar(@ino_info)) {
-				delete @prev{@tmp};
-				last if scalar(keys(%prev)) == @ino_info;
-			}
-		}
-		is(scalar @tmp, scalar @ino_info,
-			'old inotify watches replaced');
-		is(scalar keys %prev, scalar @ino_info,
-			'no previous watches overlap');
-	};
+	for my $n (1..2) { # kick the event loop so we know HUP is done
+		my $m = $imap_client->new(%mic_opt);
+		ok($m->login && $m->IsAuthenticated && $m->logout,
+			"connection $n works after HUP");
+	}
 
 	open($fh, '<', 't/data/0001.patch') or BAIL_OUT("open: $!");
 	run_script(['-mda', '--no-precheck'], $env, { 0 => $fh }) or
diff --git a/t/search.t b/t/search.t
index da9acb07623989d57bf653207a650897bbb86f20..3754717da338f7cee583d6e477b4bd7ffb0be5de 100644
--- a/t/search.t
+++ b/t/search.t
@@ -332,13 +332,13 @@ 		my $smsg = $ibx->over->get_art($m->get_docid);
 		like($smsg->{to}, qr/\blist\@example\.com\b/, 'to appears');
 		my $doc = $m->get_document;
 		my $col = PublicInbox::Search::BYTES();
-		my $bytes = PublicInbox::SearchIdx::get_val($doc, $col);
+		my $bytes = PublicInbox::Search::int_val($doc, $col);
 		like($bytes, qr/\A[0-9]+\z/, '$bytes stored as digit');
 		ok($bytes > 0, '$bytes is > 0');
 		is($bytes, $smsg->{bytes}, 'bytes Xapian value matches Over');
 
 		$col = PublicInbox::Search::UID();
-		my $uid = PublicInbox::SearchIdx::get_val($doc, $col);
+		my $uid = PublicInbox::Search::int_val($doc, $col);
 		is($uid, $smsg->{num}, 'UID column matches {num}');
 		is($uid, $m->get_docid, 'UID column matches docid');
 	}
diff --git a/xt/create-many-inboxes.t b/xt/create-many-inboxes.t
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c92643b2d33eb26a803113a0fc1231ad50e94275
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xt/create-many-inboxes.t
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+#!perl -w
+# Copyright (C) 2020 all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
+# License: AGPL-3.0+ <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt>
+use strict;
+use Test::More;
+use PublicInbox::TestCommon;
+use PublicInbox::Eml;
+use File::Path qw(mkpath);
+use IO::Handle (); # autoflush
+use POSIX qw(_exit);
+use Cwd qw(getcwd abs_path);
+use File::Spec;
+my $many_root = $ENV{TEST_MANY_ROOT} or
+	plan skip_all => 'TEST_MANY_ROOT not defined';
+my $cwd = getcwd();
+mkpath($many_root);
+-d $many_root or BAIL_OUT "$many_root: $!";
+$many_root = abs_path($many_root);
+$many_root =~ m!\A\Q$cwd\E/! and BAIL_OUT "$many_root must not be in $cwd";
+require_git 2.6;
+require_mods(qw(DBD::SQLite Search::Xapian));
+use_ok 'PublicInbox::V2Writable';
+my $nr_inbox = $ENV{NR_INBOX} // 10;
+my $nproc = $ENV{NPROC} || PublicInbox::V2Writable::detect_nproc() || 2;
+my $indexlevel = $ENV{TEST_INDEXLEVEL} // 'basic';
+diag "NR_INBOX=$nr_inbox NPROC=$nproc TEST_INDEXLEVEL=$indexlevel";
+diag "TEST_MANY_ROOT=$many_root";
+my $level_cfg = $indexlevel eq 'full' ? '' : "\tindexlevel = $indexlevel\n";
+my $pfx = "$many_root/$nr_inbox-$indexlevel";
+mkpath($pfx);
+open my $cfg_fh, '>>', "$pfx/config" or BAIL_OUT $!;
+$cfg_fh->autoflush(1);
+my $v2_init_add = sub {
+	my ($i) = @_;
+	my $ibx = PublicInbox::Inbox->new({
+		inboxdir => "$pfx/test-$i",
+		name => "test-$i",
+		newsgroup => "inbox.comp.test.foo.test-$i",
+		address => [ "test-$i\@example.com" ],
+		url => [ "//example.com/test-$i" ],
+		version => 2,
+	});
+	$ibx->{indexlevel} = $indexlevel if $level_cfg ne '';
+	my $entry = <<EOF;
+[publicinbox "$ibx->{name}"]
+	address = $ibx->{-primary_address}
+	url = $ibx->{url}->[0]
+	newsgroup = $ibx->{newsgroup}
+	inboxdir = $ibx->{inboxdir}
+EOF
+	$entry .= $level_cfg;
+	print $cfg_fh $entry or die $!;
+	my $v2w = PublicInbox::V2Writable->new($ibx, { nproc => 0 });
+	$v2w->init_inbox(0);
+	$v2w->add(PublicInbox::Eml->new(<<EOM));
+Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000
+From: Lorelei <l\@example.com>
+To: test-$i\@example.com
+Message-ID: <20101002-000000-$i\@example.com>
+Subject: hello world $i
+
+hi
+EOM
+	$v2w->done;
+};
+
+my @children;
+for my $i (1..$nproc) {
+	my ($r, $w);
+	pipe($r, $w) or BAIL_OUT $!;
+	my $pid = fork;
+	if ($pid == 0) {
+		close $w;
+		while (my $i = <$r>) {
+			chomp $i;
+			$v2_init_add->($i);
+		}
+		_exit(0);
+	}
+	defined $pid or BAIL_OUT "fork: $!";
+	close $r or BAIL_OUT $!;
+	push @children, [ $w, $pid ];
+	$w->autoflush(1);
+}
+
+for my $i (0..$nr_inbox) {
+	print { $children[$i % @children]->[0] } "$i\n" or BAIL_OUT $!;
+}
+
+for my $c (@children) {
+	close $c->[0] or BAIL_OUT "close $!";
+}
+my $i = 0;
+for my $c (@children) {
+	my $pid = waitpid($c->[1], 0);
+	is($?, 0, ++$i.' exited ok');
+}
+ok(close($cfg_fh), 'config written');
+done_testing;