lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm | 3 ++-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm
index 611f7b1609bdcd554f2b81bae1901c279427495c..1ac112b8a44222fa830f9635242155ffd00084de 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm
@@ -240,7 +240,8 @@ 			my $inbox = $self->{inbox} || $git_dir;
 			my $s = PublicInbox::SearchIdx->new($inbox);
 			$s->index_sync({ ref => $self->{ref} });
 		};
-		run_die([@cmd, qw(gc --auto)], undef);
+
+		eval { run_die([@cmd, qw(gc --auto)], undef) };
 	}
 
 	my $lockfh = delete $self->{lockfh} or die "BUG: not locked: $!";