lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm | 4 +---

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
index ade5575669c1b601162280369eb795aa3b0c40e1..3f2da6ab5647ba91fb58ba98972f27927cd605a3 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
@@ -137,9 +137,7 @@ 	}
 	return unless defined $flag;
 	$flag |= $DB_NO_SYNC if $self->{ibx}->{-no_fsync};
 	my $xdb = eval { ($X->{WritableDatabase})->new($dir, $flag) };
-	if ($@) {
-		die "Failed opening $dir: ", $@;
-	}
+	croak "Failed opening $dir: $@" if $@;
 	$self->{xdb} = $xdb;
 }