lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm | 3 +++

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm
index 2f4ca62255716cd7a0768bb7d44eb894cfe5ff18..ec9191b6c975aac47e5686de8be05f79169c81b1 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm
@@ -269,6 +269,9 @@ 		} elsif ($ref) {
 			die "unable to deal with $ref $redir";
 		}
 	}
+	if ($key =~ /-(index|convert|extindex|convert|xcpdb)\z/) {
+		unshift @argv, '--no-fsync';
+	}
 	if ($run_mode == 0) {
 		# spawn an independent new process, like real-world use cases:
 		require PublicInbox::Spawn;