1 files changed, 4 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearch.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearch.pm
index fa49a1d0..d43c23e6 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearch.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearch.pm
@@ -33,9 +33,11 @@ sub misc {
  # same as per-inbox ->over, for now...
  sub over {
          my ($self) = @_;
-        $self->{over} //= do {
+        $self->{over} // eval {
                  PublicInbox::Inbox::_cleanup_later($self);
-                PublicInbox::Over->new("$self->{xpfx}/over.sqlite3");
+                my $over = PublicInbox::Over->new("$self->{xpfx}/over.sqlite3");
+                $over->dbh; # may die
+                $self->{over} = $over;
          };
  }