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 > 100000)
+    {
+        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
@@ -209,15 +209,14 @@
             return 1;
         }
 
-        Transaction tr(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;
             }
+            Transaction tr(db, Transaction::ReadWrite);
             if (tr.inPhaseOne(id))  {
                 out << "Skipping: " << url << " Reason: Already scheduled for indexing\n";
                 continue;
@@ -229,8 +228,8 @@
             Indexer indexer(url, &tr);
             out << "Indexing " << url << endl;
             indexer.index();
+            tr.commit();
         }
-        tr.commit();
         out << "File(s) indexed\n";
 
         return 0;
@@ -248,24 +247,23 @@
             return 1;
         }
 
-        Transaction tr(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;
             }
+            Transaction tr(db, Transaction::ReadWrite);
             if (tr.documentData(id).isEmpty()) {
                 out << "Skipping: " << url << " Reason: Not yet indexed\n";
                 continue;
             }
             Indexer indexer(url, &tr);
             out << "Clearing " << url << endl;
             tr.removeDocument(id);
+            tr.commit();
         }
-        tr.commit();
         out << "File(s) cleared\n";
 
         return 0;