diff --git a/src/engine/writetransaction.cpp b/src/engine/writetransaction.cpp
--- a/src/engine/writetransaction.cpp
+++ b/src/engine/writetransaction.cpp
@@ -265,6 +265,12 @@
     PostingDB postingDB(m_dbis.postingDbi, m_txn);
     PositionDB positionDB(m_dbis.positionDBi, m_txn);
 
+    int operationCount = m_pendingOperations.size();
+    if (operationCount > 1000000)
+    {
+        qWarning() << "WriteTransaction->commit(): suspiciously large transaction, operationCount=" << operationCount;
+    }
+
     QHashIterator<QByteArray, QVector<Operation> > iter(m_pendingOperations);
     while (iter.hasNext()) {
         iter.next();
diff --git a/src/tools/balooctl/main.cpp b/src/tools/balooctl/main.cpp
--- a/src/tools/balooctl/main.cpp
+++ b/src/tools/balooctl/main.cpp
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@
 #include <QDBusConnection>
 #include <QDBusConnectionInterface>
 
+#include <memory>
+
 #include "global.h"
 #include "database.h"
 #include "transaction.h"
@@ -209,28 +211,32 @@
             return 1;
         }
 
-        Transaction tr(db, Transaction::ReadWrite);
+        auto tr = std::unique_ptr<Transaction>(new Transaction(db, Transaction::ReadWrite));
 
         for (int i = 1; i < parser.positionalArguments().size(); ++i) {
             const QString url = QFileInfo(parser.positionalArguments().at(i)).absoluteFilePath();
             quint64 id = filePathToId(QFile::encodeName(url));
             if (id == 0) {
                 out << "Could not stat file: " << url << endl;
                 continue;
             }
-            if (tr.inPhaseOne(id))  {
+            if (tr->inPhaseOne(id))  {
                 out << "Skipping: " << url << " Reason: Already scheduled for indexing\n";
                 continue;
             }
-            if (!tr.documentData(id).isEmpty()) {
+            if (!tr->documentData(id).isEmpty()) {
                 out << "Skipping: " << url << " Reason: Already indexed\n";
                 continue;
             }
-            Indexer indexer(url, &tr);
+            Indexer indexer(url, tr.get());
             out << "Indexing " << url << endl;
             indexer.index();
+            if (i % 5 == 0) {
+                tr->commit();
+                tr.reset(new Transaction(db, Transaction::ReadWrite));
+            }
         }
-        tr.commit();
+        tr->commit();
         out << "File(s) indexed\n";
 
         return 0;
@@ -248,24 +254,28 @@
             return 1;
         }
 
-        Transaction tr(db, Transaction::ReadWrite);
+        auto tr = std::unique_ptr<Transaction>(new Transaction(db, Transaction::ReadWrite));
 
         for (int i = 1; i < parser.positionalArguments().size(); ++i) {
             const QString url = QFileInfo(parser.positionalArguments().at(i)).absoluteFilePath();
             quint64 id = filePathToId(QFile::encodeName(url));
             if (id == 0) {
                 out << "Could not stat file: " << url << endl;
                 continue;
             }
-            if (tr.documentData(id).isEmpty()) {
+            if (tr->documentData(id).isEmpty()) {
                 out << "Skipping: " << url << " Reason: Not yet indexed\n";
                 continue;
             }
-            Indexer indexer(url, &tr);
+            Indexer indexer(url, tr.get());
             out << "Clearing " << url << endl;
-            tr.removeDocument(id);
+            tr->removeDocument(id);
+            if (i % 5 == 0) {
+                tr->commit();
+                tr.reset(new Transaction(db, Transaction::ReadWrite));
+            }
         }
-        tr.commit();
+        tr->commit();
         out << "File(s) cleared\n";
 
         return 0;