lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm |  4 +++-
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiUp.pm    |  5 +++--
 lib/PublicInbox/OverIdx.pm  | 12 ++++++++++++

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm
index c998e5c0ed7bbf07a09eeb7179857cfce789620c..df9c32b301d5be97c07eb4e4543267826f376bb2 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2021 all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
+# Copyright (C) all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
 # License: AGPL-3.0+ <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt>
 
 # handles "lei q" command and provides internals for
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ # several other sub-commands (up, lcat, ...)
 package PublicInbox::LeiQuery;
 use strict;
 use v5.10.1;
+use PublicInbox::OverIdx;
 
 sub prep_ext { # externals_each callback
 	my ($lxs, $exclude, $loc) = @_;
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ 	my ($self) = @_;
 	require PublicInbox::LeiOverview;
 	PublicInbox::LeiOverview->new($self) or return;
 	my $opt = $self->{opt};
+	PublicInbox::OverIdx::fork_ok($opt);
 	my ($xj, $mj) = split(/,/, $opt->{jobs} // '');
 	(defined($xj) && $xj ne '' && $xj !~ /\A[1-9][0-9]*\z/) and
 		die "`$xj' search jobs must be >= 1\n";
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiUp.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiUp.pm
index b8a9836075ba48148032d792d4788bb0b9d1ce8b..5ad214518e90b45a08b5701db51e582c3fe3980f 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiUp.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiUp.pm
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2021 all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
+# Copyright (C) all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
 # License: AGPL-3.0+ <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt>
 
 # "lei up" - updates the result of "lei q --save"
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ use strict;
 use v5.10.1;
 # n.b. we use LeiInput to setup IMAP auth
 use parent qw(PublicInbox::IPC PublicInbox::LeiInput);
-use PublicInbox::LeiSavedSearch;
+use PublicInbox::LeiSavedSearch; # OverIdx
 use PublicInbox::DS;
 use PublicInbox::PktOp;
 use PublicInbox::LeiFinmsg;
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ 	my ($self, $lei) = @_;
 	my $upq = [ (@{$self->{o_local} // []}, @{$self->{o_remote} // []}) ];
 	return up1($lei, $upq->[0]) if @$upq == 1; # just one, may start MUA
 
+	PublicInbox::OverIdx::fork_ok($lei->{opt});
 	# FIXME: this is also used per-query, see lei->_start_query
 	my $j = $lei->{opt}->{jobs} || do {
 		my $n = $self->detect_nproc // 1;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/OverIdx.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/OverIdx.pm
index e7c96e143749486d33e9b091752e712002d04e97..a49ca6db3bb82d62a3e80c4738685cc68955d7b9 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/OverIdx.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/OverIdx.pm
@@ -670,4 +670,16 @@ 	}
 	$smsg->{-vivify_xvmd} = \@vivify_xvmd;
 }
 
+sub fork_ok {
+	return 1 if $DBD::SQLite::sqlite_version >= 3008003;
+	my ($opt) = @_;
+	my @j = split(/,/, $opt->{jobs} // '');
+	state $warned;
+	grep { $_ > 1 } @j and $warned //= warn('DBD::SQLite version is ',
+		 $DBD::SQLite::sqlite_version,
+		", need >= 3008003 (3.8.3) for --jobs > 1\n");
+	$opt->{jobs} = '1,1';
+	undef;
+}
+
 1;